Fragile Dreams
by PhallenFoenix
Summary: [Updated 8.12.06] Rob.Rae. Chapter 24, Destiny, is up! Chapters up to 13 have been edited and fixed! Chapter 25 up in about two weeks!
1. Once Upon a Time is an Easy Lie

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N – First off, I would just like to thank you in advance for reading this story. It makes it all worth it. I would also ask you review any chapter that strikes your interest… even though I might be long past it. That way I know what people like and don't. It helps me develop as a writer.

This story will basically be a re-write of the entire series, with much more of a Rae/Rob focus. I warn you, it will be quite subtle for quite a while... I have to develop a real friendship between them first.

Artistic license - Robin, Cyborg, and Starfire are 16, Raven and BB are 15 (BB just barely). Music is going to be used, but as un-obnoxiously as possible… only during the interludes. Otherwise, every chapter has the same opening and closing song, which I'll just type out once… in THIS chapter.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? Pink Floyd owns Wish You were Here and Evanescence owns Missing.

* * *

Prologue - Once Upon a Time is an Easy Lie

* * *

Opening Song:

_So_

_So you think you can tell _

_Heaven from Hell  
Blue skies from pain  
Can you tell a green field from a cold steel rail?  
A smile from a veil?  
Do you think you can tell?_

_And did they get you to trade your heroes for ghosts?  
Hot ashes for trees?  
Hot air for a cool breeze?  
Cold comfort for change?  
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war  
for a lead role in a cage?_

_How I wish, how I wish you were here  
We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl  
year after year  
Running over the same old ground  
What have we found?  
The same old fears  
Wish you were here

* * *

_

"Azarath... Metrion... Zinthos..."

Raven Roth sat in her room, trying to meditate. She had to admit, it wasn't working very well. This place, this entire planet, was too new to her. So unlike her home, Azarath... Raven shook her head. That place was lost to her now. It had never wanted her there in the first place, and now that her mentor was dead there was no place for her there.

She clutched her hands tighter around her two silver rings as unwelcome emotion coursed through the empath. Her mentor and her mother, dead within days of one another. These rings are now all she had left of them. Determined, she put aside all thoughts of the past... Azarath was behind her, and Earth was her home now.

Sighing in resignation, Raven lifted herself from the bed and slung her cloak around her. She grimaced at the mess her emotions had made of the room. The young empath walked out, walking left and turning right at the next split. She heard the living room before she saw it... TV blazing, people yelling, music playing... Raven sighed. 'Perfect.' The young demoness entered, taking in the entirety of the new scene. Cyborg and the green one, Beast Brat, were playing some racing game as they taunted and shouted at each other. The Tameranian... Starfire?... and Robin were sitting down, eating as he blasted music. Yes, Robin, the Boy Wonder himself' She thought as she made tea, 'The pupil of the legendary Batman.'

Batman... thinking about him brought up memories she'd rather not have. The Titans weren't her first choice of a team - The Justice League had been. She still stung from Zantana's words.

* * *

- Flashback -

* * *

Raven walked out of the Hall of Justice, her ears still stinging from Zantana's rejection. 'Evil,' her mind still echoed. 'Evil Evil Evil Evil Evil... She's evil, the daughter of Trigon himself.' Following Zantana's warnings, Raven's pleas sounded hollow even to her own ears.

As she left, Batman caught up to her. He was the only member in favor of helping the half-demon. "Seek out my pupil, Robin, in Bludhaven. He's assembling a team of hero's... he'll help you." Even as Raven watched him walk away with a new hope in her heart, her mind still echoed with Zantana's truly frightened voice.

"Be gone, Demon! Evil..."

Crack!

* * *

- End Flashback -

* * *

The sudden crack brought Raven out of her memories: Her dark emotions had shattered her mug of tea, spilling the hot water all over both her and the counter. Groaning in disgust, she turned and stormed out of the room. She needed to get her emotions under control. The rest of the team probably already thought she was a freak, and she hadn't even been with them a week

Despite Raven's worries, most of the team hadn't noticed that she had even been there. Cy and BB were too busy competing with each other to notice a fire, and Starfire was too busy staring at the boy wonder. Only Robin noticed Raven's entrance, and her frustrated exit. He hoped that Batman was right about her. Although he hadn't seen anything to justify calling Raven evil, everything he saw did tell him that the empath's powers were dangerous, and not completely under control.

Robin sighed and put the mystic out of his mind. Raven was the least of his worries right now. More importantly, how was he going to transform this band of misfits into a functional team? He had a vegan changeling and a carnivorous cyborg constantly at each other's throats, a naive alien fawning over him, and to top it off, a moody empath with an unknown past that might not be in full control of her powers... and all of them to be led by a cocky, perfectionist 16 year old kid with no powers of his own. And it was his job to transform this group of misfits into the Teen Titans.

* * *

End Prologue

* * *

Closing Song:

_Please, please forgive me,  
But I won't be home again.  
Maybe someday you'll have woke up,  
And, barely conscious, you'll say to no one:  
"isn't something missing?"_

_You won't cry for my absence, I know -  
You forgot me long ago.  
Am I that unimportant...?  
Am I so insignificant...?  
Isn't something missing?  
Isn't someone missing me?_

_Even though I would sacrifice,  
You won't try for me, not now.  
Though I'd die to know you love me,  
I'm all alone…  
Isn't someone missing me?_

_Please, please forgive me,  
But I won't be home again.  
I know what you do to yourself,  
Shudder deep and cry out:  
"Isn't something missing?  
Isn't someone missing me?"_

_Even though I would sacrifice,  
You won't try for me, not now.  
Though I'd die to know you love me,  
I'm all alone.  
Isn't someone missing me?_

_And if I bleed, I'll bleed,  
Knowing you don't care.  
And if I sleep just to dream of you  
And wake without you there,  
Isn't something missing?  
Isn't something..._

_Even though I would sacrifice,  
You won't try for me, not now.  
Though I'd die to know you love me,  
I'm all alone._

_Isn't someone missing me?

* * *

_

A/N

That's the introduction to my story. Read and Review, please. Yeah, I know not much happened, but it's a bloody prologue... what can I say?

A note: Episode will happen out of order, some will not happen at all, and others will happen but be significantly changed. If an episode happens unchanged, I will tell you about it during the chapter's it came between.


	2. Final Exam

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I also am not named Frank Herbert, so I don't own Dune either.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 1 - Final Exam

* * *

In a stainless steel amphitheater more suited to combat than to ceremony, three young teens stood in the center, facing a shadowy alcove about ten feet higher up. The seats surrounding the amphitheater were filled with other teens, but they were all silent as they looked on with anticipation.

When someone looked at the three, the first person they noticed was always Mammoth. Standing at 7'7", he wasn't just big for sixteen... he was big for a human. Mammoth was strong... he chucked busses for fun. He wasn't all that bright, though... that's why he let himself be led by the pink haired 15 year old girl next to him.

Jynx was perfectly typical looking of a high school girl if you excused the hair. Pretty, witty, and fun loving was the aura she let off... until you looked into her eyes. Colored the same as her hair, they sparkled with a dangerous light.

Floating to her left was a small 11 year old boy, covered head to toe with high tech gadgets. A brilliant inventor, his skill with the gizmos he took his name from was matched only by his arrogance. Small and rodent-like, Gizmo was the main tactician of the threesome: he made most of the plans.

The three together were the first graduates of H.I.V.E. Academy... the city's premiere school for young super-villains. As they waited, an older man with graying hair approached. "Children, it is time for your final examination." His voice came strong from his frail body, echoing through the chamber. "The Dread Slade wishes you to be put to the test by destroying these upstarts, the Teen Titans. Can you succeed?"

"Yes, Brother Blood."

* * *

Robin pummeled the dummy in frustration, delivering a wicked backhand to the throat as he spun before terminating the spin with a vicious roundhouse kick to the 'head.' "Idiots..." he muttered, "Just a bunch of hopeless, unruly, stubborn, argumentative..." He emphasized each curse with another savage blow. His new Titans had just foiled a bank robbery... barely. Everything was going fine until either BB or Cyborg got out of place. Since the position was off, Cyborg took a shoot and winged BB... and then the IDIOT turned and started yelling at Cy, allowing a bandit to get the drop on both him and Cy. Star dove in to get them out of danger, but she missed the grab and all three went down in a heap.

The loss of three titans allowed the robbers to get to their car with the loot... then Raven stopped the car. 'At least someone got something vaguely right,' Robin thought to himself. And these were just normal thugs with masks and the IQ of one of his Birdarangs.

There were days, and long dark nights, where Robin doubted he'd ever make a team out of these misfits.

In truth, Robin didn't know what he was so mad about. The team had only been training together for about a month; it had taken much longer than that for Batman to instill some sense of discipline in him. And besides, they DID still win. Robin sighed. At least Raven didn't seem like she would be a problem.

* * *

Usually, Raven came out of her meditations calm. This time, though, she returned to find herself sitting in the lotus position on the edge of the tower's roof, still every bit as frustrated as she was an hour ago. 'THIS was the team I chose to help me?' Raven thought, shaking her head mournfully, 'I'm doomed.'

At least she didn't feel like forcibly removing Beast Boy's head from his shoulders anymore. That was an improvement.

Raven decided she needed tea. It usually calmed her down, so it was worth braving Cyborg and that animal for it. Unsurprisingly, Cy and BB were playing some kind of racing game on the big screen, and equally unsurprisingly, Robin wasn't around. 'Probably training,' she thought, 'That's all he ever does.'

While she was heating the water, Starfire floated into the room and immediately went over to Raven. "Friend Raven! I have not seen you! May I partake in the drinking of herbal beverages with you?"

Without looking up, Raven rolled her eyes at the alien girl's antics. "It's a free country, Star." Just as the kettle began to whistle, a small spherical object crashed through the window and rolled to a stop between the kitchen and the couch. Four pairs of eyes focused on the object, then it started making a sound. Beep beep, beepbeepbeepbeep!

"Ah, hells nAHH" was all Cyborg got out before the grenade exploded in a blinding flash. Raven protectively crossed her hands across her chest as she projected her soul-self in the form of a black globe, shielding her. Even through the shield the flash was blinding, and when Raven finally dared to open her eyes, the room was full of smoke. Raven started when a pink haired girl cartwheeled into the room through the broken window... despite it being about 10 stories up. A short little boy covered in more techy items than Cyborg quickly followed the pony-tailed teen. Raven pushed back the fear that came with adrenaline. 'Fear is the mind killer,' she thought to herself. Slapping the alarm, Raven pulled her soul self back, ready for combat.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

* * *

Responding to the blaring of the alarm, Robin opened the door to find a scene of complete chaos. A little kid flying on a glider was chasing Cyborg and BB around with bombing runs... neither thought to separate and counter attack. Star was busy trying desperately to dodge swings from a giant, and Raven was involved in a deadly game of dodge ball with a pink haired girl, slinging objects and waves of energy at each other, evading or blocking the other's spells. There was no teamwork on the part of the Titans. As he watched, these newcomers displayed the very teamwork his own combatants sorely lacked. The big one launched an easy, horizontal strike at Starfire, just begging to be ducked and countered with a starbolt.

The naive alien did just that, obediently using the predictable counter. Her attacker pulled the attack short, launching herself to the side just as a wave from the spell caster soared through. Starfire had no time to react. The hex caught her solidly, and she was blasted back into a closet. Every shelving unit promptly collapsed on her. Robin wanted to cry with frustration. Instead, he extended his staff and charged Mammoth.

Robin's initial battery was practically unblocked, but the giant didn't even seem to flinch. He patiently waited until Robin got careless and attempted too risky a strike, then grabbed the bo stick and snapped it like a twig. Robin stopped to gawk at the display of strength, and caught a fist for his efforts. The boy wonder went down, and rolled away to recover... and for a second, Mammoth was free.

* * *

"Catch this if you can, _birdy_!" Jynx yelled, and unleashed a wild, rapid-fire volley of hexes and curses at Raven. Raven had no trouble blocking any of them, but they did a very good job of keeping her attention on the witch in front of her: the only thing that saved her was a bad feeling and a memory of how Star went down. Raven turned just in time to project a shield against Mammoth's attacks from behind, but when Jynx began aiming her hexes again, Raven quickly found herself overmatched. Her defenses went up later and later with each attack. It was only a matter of time before she went down, and all three knew it.

* * *

Robin looked at this travesty as he rolled to his feet. Starfire was down, Raven would be as well soon enough, and Gizmo still had Cyborg and BB busy. He sighed in disgust. "Titans, retreat!" He threw three exploding birdarangs at Mammoth, filling the room with more smoke and hopefully giving Raven time to recover. Robin grabbed Star by the arm, and jumped out the window, firing his grappling hook upwards. Cy and BB quickly followed.

* * *

Raven narrowly dodged another hex from Jynx, and arrived at the same conclusion Robin had - they were outclassed, and badly. It was time to get out of here. She allowed herself to sink into her soul self, and sunk through the floor just as another curse landed right where she used to be. Jynx let out a victorious howl: they had just routed the Teen Titans! She did a flip just for the sheer fun of it. Time to enjoy the spoils of victory.

Raven materialized downstairs, quickly running away from the now hostile Titan Tower. As she ran, she realized that Jynx's last hex might not have missed after all. Her cloak was as pink as the witch's hair.

"Perfect." Raven deadpanned.

* * *

End chapter 1

* * *

Next time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

-Robin throws a fit  
-Raven feels like killing Jynx  
-The Titans actually use TEAMWORK?

Next Episode - Solidarity

A/N – A highschool for supervillains? I know, it's lame as hell… but it's no skin off of my back, because I didn't come up with it! It's cannon!

Go figure.

How am I doing so far? No real changes have been made yet... not for one or two more chapters. I'm still waiting to hear how you want me to handle unchanged episodes. Right now, I'm leaning towards mostly skipping them, and maybe bring back relevant parts in flashbacks. Also, what do you want for chapter length? This about the right size, or do you want it longer? I'm probably not getting any shorter than this... Anyway, review! Next chapter will be up as soon as I get 2 more reviews.


	3. Solidarity

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N - I'd just like to quickly thank all my reviewers. Anything you tell me will only improve the story so keep the reviews coming.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 2 - Solidarity

* * *

Raven looked at her cloak in complete disgust. Wow, was Jynx going to get it for this. The empath relaxed, letting her emotions drift back into place, and her cloak slowly shifted back to it's usual blue. Absolutely sick to her stomach, she went to regroup with the others.

* * *

The sewers. After the Titan Tower, needing to regroup in the sewers was a snap back to reality for the Titans. Robin screaming at them didn't hurt either. "What was THAT? That was worse than the damn BANK JOB!" Robin was pacing back and forth in front of the other titans, who stood silently. Cyborg looked kind of pissed at Robin's condescension, BB and Star looked ashamed, and Raven just leaned against the wall unconcernedly. She ALWAYS looked so damn uncaring. "Star, that feint was one of the most elementary tactics possible!"

"I am the ashamed, friend Robi-"

"And YOU, Cy and BB... YOU LET ONE LITTLE KID CHASE YOU BOTH AROUND!"

"Dude... chill," Beast Boy said, trying to stay calm. "He had all these gadgets an-"

"Did you even THINK to split up so he could only chase one of you! Maybe if you bothered to work together..."

* * *

Raven might not have socialized much with the rest of the team, but she had observed them carefully. She knew that this last comment would push Cy too far, and if he blew up at Robin and they started an argument like they'd had in the last few weeks nothing was going to get done. So, Raven beat Cy to the punch. "Recriminations can wait. More importantly, how are we taking our tower back?"

Robin turned to Raven, prepared to scream his head off. We lost it, he was going to yell, and we're not going to get it back. He was about to blame her for allowing herself to fall into Jynx's trap. He was about to tell her off for interrupting him. He met her deep lavender, and promptly forgot everything he was about to say. Her face always looked so tranquil, as it did now, but her eyes burned with determination.

Robin couldn't look away. Her eyes were the most expressive he'd ever seen, shining with all the emotion her features didn't. Robin stared into her eyes for a good thirty seconds, but to him it felt much longer. Robin finally broke his eyes away, and shook his head to clear it. He let out a sigh, and all his frustration and anger left with it. Finally, he looked up, and gave a little smile. "We're going to have to learn about teamwork first."

* * *

Two days later, the H.I.V.E. graduates were just hanging around in their new tower. Jynx was wearing one of Robin's utility belts and one of Raven's robes. She was sitting on the couch, playing Gizmo in some game on the Titan's huge TV while Mammoth raided the fridge, pulling out several blue and fuzzy hamburgers. "I wouldn't eat those if I were you..." Jynx warned, but he paid her no mind, then he shoved a second burger in whole. Shuddering, Jynx turned back to the game.

It took three words for this calm scene to degenerate into complete chaos. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" The entire fridge went black as Raven projected her soul-self on it, and food items went flying at the three villains. The other Titans burst through the door as Raven rose up from below. Robin and Starfire went for Mammoth together, and Cyborg and Beast Boy went for Gizmo, leaving Jynx and Raven alone... just the way Rae wanted it.

* * *

The fight quickly trashed the living room all over again, Robin noticed with a wry grin. 'At least BB and Cy aren't getting humiliated by Gizmo this time,' Robin thought. The kid was spending a good bit of his time dodging blasts from Cyborg's sonic cannon and blows from whatever animal BB was using at the moment. Time to teach these interlopers not to mess with the Teen Titans. We have some tactics of our own this time. Robin quickly threw blows at Mammoth, rocking him back on his heels just in time for him to catch a bolt from Star. Mammoth backed off to clear his head, and this time it was Robin who was free for a second.

* * *

As Robin charged her, Jynx was delighted... she loved this kind of fighting. She back flipped out of the way and threw a hex down at Robin from mid air. Robin dodged, and attempted an off-balance counter. Jynx gleefully spun to the side of the punch, preparing a hex as she twirled. When she completed the rotation, the boy wonder was nowhere to be found and all she saw was a pair of green glowing eyes. Mammoth, too late, shouted a warning to her. This was going to hurt.

Jynx went flying backwards in a wash of green energy. 'So stupid,' she berated herself, 'how could you fall for your own damn trick?' In hindsight, the trap was clear. When she twirled around Robin's outstretched arm, it formed the perfect optical block of the back of the room. In that time, the alien and the empath switched places. Raven was now holding Mammoth off with a black disk on each arm and surprising skill at hand to hand combat while Robin hurried back, leaving Star to finish off Jynx.

"We might be in trouble, boys," she said as she landed.

"Well, you got something right, BOSS," Gizmo replied sarcastically as he just barely dodged a gorilla fist.

Jynx made a quick mental evaluation and came to the obvious solution. "We're not gunna win this. Retreat!" she yelled, leaving the same way the titans had two days before.

"Boo Yah!" Cyborg yelled as he watched Gizmo and Mammoth follow. "Get out of our tower!"

Robin looked around and sighed. 'What a mess.'

* * *

Later that day, Raven again sat on the roof. She wasn't meditating, but just thinking. 'Maybe this team has some potential after all.' she thought. Raven allowed a little bit of joy to come to the surface, and she gave a slight smile. 'That Robin certainly managed to pull it off.' The thought of the boy wonder managed to make her blush, and she had absolutely no idea why.

She indulged herself for a moment and thought more about Robin. His determination, his cockiness, his focus... Over the last two days she had seen a side of him she didn't know existed. He had gone from the impersonal and aloof taskmaster to a serious but kind leader, and sometimes tutor. The blush deepened as she thought how many of their sparring sessions ended: with Robin pinning her.

Raven heard a loud crack as dark energy blew the door to the roof right out of its frame. The emotions she had let out in the last few minutes were quickly getting out of control. 'Damn empathy,' she thought. She pulled up her hood and forced herself to focus and shoved all her emotions deep into herself so she could meditate.

* * *

"You incompetent INFIDELS! You had them in your grasp, and you let them slip away? And then they returned, didn't they? Don't answer that, fool... the truth is written all over your face. They returned, and while you had become lazy and complacent, they organized, and your pathetic band was soundly beaten." Brother Blood's rant finally began to wind down. "Now, what have you to say for yourselves?"

Jynx was the first to gather the courage to speak. "Allow us to fight them again, Headmaster, and we shall-"

Brother Blood cut her off. "You shall do no such thing. In fact, it will be a long time before you do any other graduation exam either... because you three are DEMOTED BACK TO LEVEL ONE STUDENTS!" Brother Blood screamed at Jynx, "Now get OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Jynx, Mammoth, and Gizmo practically ran out the door, thinking themselves lucky to still be alive in the face of an outburst like that.

As soon as they were gone, Brother Blood turned to the man you could just see silhouetted in the shadows. "Do you think I was to harsh on them?"

A man wearing an orange and black mask with one eye stepped forward into the light, and laughed. "Actually, that went much as expected." Slade Wilson replied. "I was afraid these 'Titans' might turn out to be something of a headache after all." He turned and headed for the door.

Blood cocked his head slightly. "What do you intend to do?"

Slade stopped, looked over his shoulder, and somehow gave the impression of a smile through that impervious mask. "Cinderblock should be able to stir things up. Let us see how they handle it."

* * *

End Chapter Two

* * *

Read and Review people.

I'm pretty sure I've decided how to represent the episodes that don't really change. I'm going to refer to events in them to let you know that they happened (because the chronology of this story is going to be quite different from the series) and I'll use flashbacks and memories to show any really relevant scene when it becomes important. If this changes at any time or if anyone has a good reason why this idea sucks, please... by all means let me know.

Next time on Teen Titans -

Raven picks her loyalties  
-Slade has a new challenge for the Titans  
-Cyborg quits?

Next Episode - Divide and Conquer


	4. Divide and Conquer

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N I think that between this chapter and the last two, it's important to make this very, VERY clear, so hopefully I won't need to say it again:

**I AM NOT BASHING CYBORG OR BEASTBOY**. Everything I've written derogatory about either of them has either come from an extremely cynical Raven who doesn't trust the team yet, or a REALLY frustrated and stressed Robin as he tries to turn a group of independent superheroes into a team. Of course Robin's going to be pissed at Cy and BB for acting dumb. Everything I've said reflects the current opinion of the titans that this story is written from the perspective of, and I'm sure that maybe excluding star, the other titans are having similar thoughts. Also, as anyone who has seen the show knows, THESE OPINIONS CHANGE RADICALLY. So yeah, I'm not bashing them.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I also don't own Garden of Eva, though I do tip my hat to it here.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 3 - Divide and Conquer

* * *

With the exception of that unpleasantness with Starfire's sister, the last month had seen a relatively quiet Bloodhaven. Only petty criminals threatened the city recently, and after dealing with the H.I.V.E. students they were a joke. Despite the lull in the action, the Titans were being kept plenty busy by Robin as he kept chipping away at the gargantuan task of turning 5 young heroes into Titans, in fact rather than just in name. Robin had declared a day off from the nonstop training today, and for a blue-cloaked empath it didn't come a moment too soon.

Raven was certain that if someone surprised her, that someone would be losing a head. She hadn't been able to meditate to her satisfaction for weeks now, and it took every ounce of her willpower and training to keep her deadly emotions in check. 'Finally,' she thought as she sat on her bed, 'A chance to really meditate.' Normally, Karma would have allowed the poor girl a chance to do just that. Unfortunately, Karma must have also been taking the day off because Irony was on duty... and Irony must not like half-demons very much. Barely half an hour into her meditation, the Titan's alarm went off. Raven could have cried with frustration... instead she just sighed. 'Off to save the world one petty criminal at a time.'

* * *

The alarm was coming from the prison. When the Titans arrived, Raven's first clue that this was no simple crime was the fifteen-foot tall hole in the prison gate. She felt her eyes go white as her mind prepared to project her soul-self anywhere on demand. The titans quickly spread out and searched... they didn't need to say a word. They were actually like a real team... incredibly different from just one short month ago.

It didn't take long for the Titans to find the source of the trouble... 15 foot tall stone golems were hard to miss. He had a tank in his hands, holding a sleeping human. "Cinderblock," Robin announced, "Strong and durable, but none-too-bright. Hit him fast, hit him hard."

Starbolts and sonic blasts burst against stone as the team followed Robin's orders, but Cinderblock shrugged off the punishing blows without any visible effect. BB turned into a rhino and rammed him a few feet back, but then the giant caught him with a single hand, lifted him off the ground, and threw him backwards into a charging Robin like a rag doll. Robin leaped over the shape shifter and threw a bomb at Cinderblock's face and it exploded just as Raven ripped up the ground beneath him.

Cinderblock staggered under the twin attack and finally fell to the ground. Robin and Cyborg started running down the hall towards the downed Cinderblock in a move they had been practicing recently. As they both started to run up the wall, Raven noticed that they were racing each other, each trying to beat the other to the convergence point. 'Uh oh...' she thought, just it time to watch their feet catch on each other. They fell like stones.

Cinderblock took the opportunity to take the prisoner and escape, breaking the electric conduit on the wall as he went. A shrill alarm sounded, and all the cell doors opened. "Wonderful," Raven said, "just what we needed. Now, besides a big hunk of rock, we have a bunch of peons to worry about as well."

Shooting one last angry glare at Cyborg as if blaming him for the whole mess, Robin straightened. Titans, we'll worry about Cinderblock later. Stop those convicts!" Raven nodded, and sunk into the floor.

* * *

The main entrance from the Bloodhaven prison was open, urging a mass of convicts towards it. Freedom was close enough to touch, it was staring them in the face and welcoming them with open arms... but it was not to be. Mere steps from the doors, they all turned black and slammed shut.

As the inmates stared on in confusion, Raven walked in right through the door, her eyes glowing white and hands filled with black halos. Her lavender hair was blown back in a non-existent wind as the mob of prisoners stared at the demoness. Raven stared back, never twitching from her ready position. "I think you should all go back to your cells now." The perfectly calm and self-assured tone of voice she used had its desired effect: This mob of hardened criminals was terrified of a 15-year-old girl. They obeyed.

* * *

Later that night, after finally managing to meditate, Raven reflected on the day. She decided it couldn't have gone much worse. Not only did the break out by Cinderblock work out, but also Cinderblock was still at large. As if that wasn't enough to ruin the Titan's real debut, Cyborg had quit to complete the debacle. Now it didn't even look like she was going to have a team any longer. 'I hate Earth,' she thought.

She needed tea.

* * *

'I'm losing control of my team.'

Half of Robin wanted to laugh at referring to the Teen Titans as a real team, but the other half refused to be distracted by sarcasm. 'Loyalty... it all comes down to loyalty.'

Robin was sitting in the living room; pretty sure he was the only one still awake. The TV was on, but Robin had his eyes closed and had it muted. BB had stuck with the boy wonder for now, but Robin thought he'd probably prefer Cy to be in charge. Starfire was on his side, no doubt about it. Raven was the wildcard.

No one really knew anything about the reclusive empath. Her opinions, background, habits, and feelings were all shrouded in darkness, along with her loyalties. The more he thought about it, the more he realized he really knew nothing about the shadowy girl. He had decided that his mentor had been right, 'How could I have doubted... he's _always_ right,' and she was reliable, but that was as far as his knowledge went. The dark Titan obviously had an incredible amount of power hidden within her slight build, but no one knew anything about her. The less he realized he that he knew, the less comfortable with the he became.

Robin's thoughts were interrupted as the door opened and Raven walked into the room. 'So ask her.'

'Easier said than done.' Another little voice in his head argued. Whatever. Robin walked up to where Raven was making tea. "Uh, Raven? Can we talk?"

* * *

"About?" Raven asked, raising an eyebrow. Robin looked like he was having a hard time asking whatever he wanted, so she turned away after a few seconds. She intended to brush him off like she had so many other attempts to talk to her, but to her own surprise she was talking again. "Spit it out boy wonder!"

"Who do you want as leader?" He spat out in a rush.

Too fast in fact, and Raven had to pause while she translated the slur of sounds into a coherent sentence. Once she figured out what he was asking, she took a longer pause. 'Oh, so it's my loyalty he wants.'

This was usually just the type of question she avoided answering, but she considered it seriously, surprising herself again. The final and largest surprise was that the answer was already obvious to her, and she was clueless why.

"I'm with you, Robin." Robin gave her a smile, and all hell broke loose. This was a real, honest smile; unlike the cocky grins and smirks he shared with everyone else. Her emotions went nuts, and she was too slow to suppress them. Boom! The teakettle went flying across the room. She blushed in embarrassment and a frying pan joined the kettle. "I need to meditate." She explained quickly and ran out, leaving a confused but newly inspired Robin behind her.

* * *

Two days later, Raven still didn't know why she had made that choice. It had turned out for the best, though - Cyborg had captured Cinderblock while the rest of the Titans handled Plasmus, and he rejoined the Titans. Everything seemed to be for the best.

Except... Raven had never _really_ been loyal to anything but herself before. Why now? She owed nothing to Robin, and at the time it seemed like the Titans would dissolve, so he didn't even have a team to offer her anymore. So why had her loyalty to him been so damn clear to her? The thought haunted her for hours before she managed to find sleep.

* * *

End Chapter 3

* * *

Next time on Fragile Dreams:

-A storm rolls in, and two troublesome brothers emerge.  
-Raven receives a rude awakening from a world she hoped couldn't follow.  
-Slade makes his latest move against the Titans.

Next Episode - Forces of Nature


	5. Forces of Nature

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N This episode is largely a flashback by Raven. It will also be shorter than usual... sorry. I'll make it up next chapter, I promise.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I think I've made it clear Dune is likewise not mine.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 4 - Forces of Nature

* * *

Raven lay in bed the very next night, shivering. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. I shall conquer my fear and let it pass through me, when fear is gone there shall be nothing: Only I will remain.' Raven repeated this mantra over and over in her head. Unfortunately, just saying it didn't make it true... Raven was indeed afraid. 'Still afraid,' she disgustedly corrected herself.

Trigon…

She had convinced herself that he could not follow her here. She had made herself believe that she was safe, and the prophesy of her birth was nothing but superstition. She no longer could believe it, as her trembling clearly showed. Try as she might, she couldn't banish the memories of tonight from her head.

* * *

Flashback-

* * *

It had started very simply… just a simple problem to be remedied before sleep. Two destructive teens had arrived along with the storm, seemingly the incarnation of the forces of thunder and lightning: the names they bore. In a showdown on the bridge the Titans had lost badly, allowing the brothers to escape. BB and Star had tracked them to a park, but they again escaped with the help of an old man and some strange technology.

Raven would give a great deal to know that man's identity... even more than Robin would. All they knew for certain was that the old man was just a disguise... a disguise for Slade. Raven kept silent about it, but she knew more than that. Whoever he was, he was linked to Trigon... Probably a worshipper. How could any human be foolish enough to worship a demon with a goal to end humanity?

When the team next caught up to the brothers, they had far larger problems to worry about. A colossus of fire had somehow been summoned into existence... the Titans could only guess. Raven, however... she knew. She had seen things in her short life that no mortal should ever see, but what she saw made her blood run cold, and she froze up with fear.

There was a symbol emblazoned on the demon's forehead. Raven couldn't believe her eyes, but the irrefutable evidence was spelled out in front of her in fiery lettering. It was a demonic symbol, in the style of a combined S and 5. It was the symbol of Trigon.

Raven's birthmark.

The stunned demoness was shaken out of her trance by the demonic fire locking eyes with her. They stared at each other for an eternity, and Raven was unable to look away. Finally, the beast roared and headed straight for her. She cursed. 'If Trigon didn't know I was here, he sure as hell does now.'

All the Titan's efforts to stop the construct accomplished nothing. It was only when the brothers intervened that the demonic force was defeated.

* * *

End Flashback-

* * *

Raven couldn't help herself. All the fear and pain coalesced around her, and she started sobbing softly, crying despite her revulsion at the weakness it implied. The young empath, so strong but so delicate, cried herself to sleep, oblivious to the mess she was making of the room and wondering if she would ever be free of Trigon.

* * *

Robin stood outside Raven's door, trying to build up the courage to knock. Something was wrong with her, of that he was sure. Ever since her sudden pledge of allegiance to him, Robin had found himself caring more and more for what the dark Titan thought, even as Starfire's affections started to grow on him as well. She had frozen during the battle tonight, and the... the... WHATEVER it was had gone directly for her. The girl was, at least to Robin, obviously shaken after they had returned to the tower, and anything that worried the stoical girl was enough to concern him. 

He thought he heard something from her room. Robin pressed his ear against the Raven lettering, and heard... sobbing? Raven was CRYING? 'Go see what's wrong, you fool!' Robin paused with his hand just inches from the door, and then turned and ran down the hall, disgusted with himself.

'Coward.'

* * *

End Chapter 4

* * *

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams:

-Robin on a date?  
-Robin has a girlfriend?  
-Why does this bother Raven so much?

Next Episode - Date with Destiny

A/N Yeah... so far I've been mostly faithful to the chronology and plot of the original... now it's time to throw it out the window. I'm REALLY sorry about this chapter being so short. I'll make up for it with the next chapter, I promise. Nothing changed in the entire forces of nature episode, it was just important for you to know exactly what Raven was thinking.

And yeah, I'm a Dune fan. Sue me.


	6. Date with Destiny

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N - As promised, a much longer chapter this time. Everything up until now was set up for the plot, just to establish backgrounds. This is where the real plot begins. I would just like to remind everyone that this is Rob/Rae... no matter how this chapter comes of looking.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? And despite numerous, and honestly unintentional, references to it, I don't own Spider-Man either... unfortunately.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 5 - Date with Destiny

* * *

"Titans, Go!"

Two weeks later, the Titans were back to business as usual... including Raven. The crime of the night was a petty jewel theft performed by a less than normal crook: a spider-man. His body was completely normal, but his head was that of a giant spider. Four legs came out below his head, and he used them to travel quickly across roofs and up walls. He called himself Fang.

Cyborg was blasting at him, but he was dodging until Robin launched his new cycle off a ramp at the hybrid. 'Fang' barely managed to move himself out out the way, but Robin's distraction took away his concentration long enough. A pair of starbolts and a sonic beam crashed into him, and his 4 spider legs just managed to stabilize him. Robin smiled as he landed and looked behind him. He finally had a TEAM. "Raven, now!"

"Azarath Metrion Zin..."

A stream of webbing spat at her by Fang cut off Raven's spell. While the empath was unable to stop him, the web head made good his escape. Raven used her powers to rip the webs of her face, spitting the wretched stuff out of her mouth. "Yuck." she said in the understatement of the year. "I did NOT know he could do that."

The Titan looked around, and saw the others had continued the chase. Everyone was gone. 'Well, at least no one saw my embarrassing job of getting it off.' Raven hurried to catch up, but arrived just in time to watch Robin get hit by some type of poison spit. He fell like a stone from about 8 stories up, and she realized he must be paralyzed. Her emotions started screaming at her, and she leapt forward. She shouted out "AzarathMetrionZinthos!" in what had to be record time, and her soul self shot out to levitate Robin by the clothing, catching him feet from the hard pavement.

The rest of the team was gathering around her now. "I think Robin's out of commission," Raven said evenly. "I'll take him back to the tower."

Starfire objected. "No, I shall lead friend Robin's return to safety. The rest of you continue the looking for the spider of meanness."

Raven's emotions REALLY didn't like that idea, but she didn't understand why not anymore than she understood why they had declared her loyal to Robin or why they panicked when he fell. Besides, she was very good at ignoring her emotions. Having no logical argument, she didn't insist. "Fine."

Cyborg took charge. "Ok, BB, Raven, you're with me. Lets find the crazy spider. Call in when Robin is back, Star." She nodded and flew off towards Titan Tower with Robin in her arms. A mixture of emotions she'd never felt before surged through the empath, and she tuned them out as well. Finding the spider was what was important right now.

* * *

A half-hour of searching later, they still hadn't found the jewel thief. They had, however, found a bigger problem. Cyborg was talking into his communicator, "Robin, your not gunna believe this. We didn't find Fang, but we did find a bunch of huge moths eating Bloodhaven Bridge. Get over here!" Cyborg turned to his teammates. "Ok Titans, defend the bridge. Raven, you and I will clear them off the cables. BB, you try to take 'em out of the air. Titans, GO!"

Raven obeyed, creating a black disk to lift Cy up on the suspension cables. Black beams of dark energy shot from her hands at moths as she allowed just a little anger to surface. They were quickly joined by blue blasts from Cy's sonic blaster as he skated down the supports, and together they quickly swept away the moths here before moving on to the next lines.

It didn't take long for the hopelessness of the situation to sink in. For every moth the pair took down, there were three more to take its place. BB was completely swarmed, and Raven could see more moths flying in as support ropes began to snap all around her. Then, with an abruptness that startled her, the moths stopped and looked to the sky. Raven got a distinct impression of them receiving instructions. Several seconds late, they all flew off as suddenly as they came.

Raven's communicator blinked and she activated it, seeing BB and Cy do the same. "Titans," Robin spoke, "I've bought us some time. See what you can do with the names 'Kitten' and 'Killer Moth.' Then take down the moths."

"Won't you be joining us?" BB asked.

"I can't," Robin grimaced, "I have a date. Star will join you."

'You have a WHAT!' Raven wanted to scream. She kept it inside, thankfully. Why did that bother her so much? Why did she care so much about Robin recently? Shaking off the emotions with more effort than usual, Raven prepared for a hunt.

* * *

Robin stuck his finger under the collar of his tux after getting off his bike. By god he hated this monkey suit. Making sure his mask was still firmly over his eyes, he started to walk through the crowd of assembled students just ashore of the boat. 

"Robin?" a voice called out behind him.

A very familiar voice. Robin turned to see Starfire behind him, and... Robin's brain derailed, stopping in mid recognition. She was gorgeous! Star had her hair styled, was wearing makeup, and wore a beautiful red dress, tight in all the right places to show off her looks. Robin just stared for a few moments before he realized his mouth was open. He pulled himself together and managed to close his mouth. "What are you doing here, Star?" 'Not that I mind at all.'

"Friend Robin instructed me to investigate Kitten. I intend to investigate her very closely."

Robin was going to respond to that, but Starfire was gone and he found himself being hugged from behind. "Ooh Robbie-poo! Your date is here!"

'Guys, please tell me you've found Killer Moth.' Robin thought as he walked the spoiled blond teen aboard the boat.

"Now take me to the dance. And would it kill you to smile?"

* * *

The other Titans were making SOME progress towards finding the source of the moths. They were currently exploring the home to which they had traced Kitten. After searching for a frustrating fifteen minutes, Raven slammed the door of a room behind her, her anger emerging a little more than she desired. "This is pointless. There's nothing here." 

"Yeah," agreed Cyborg. "Dead end."

"At least the house is nice," Beast Boy pointed out, making his point by flopping down one an armchair heavily. The chair tilted back, and a panel on the wall slid away to reveal a staircase, which BB was rather noisily tumbling down.

Raven cocked an eyebrow. "I haven't been on Earth that long, but I'm guessing most houses don't have that, do they?"

Cy shook his head. "Nope." He started walking down the stairs, converting his arm to a hand cannon as he went.

"So the changeling's incompetence proves useful. Who would have guessed?" Raven said aloud as she followed Cy down the stairs. Cyborg just laughed.

* * *

As his date, Kitten was growing increasingly obnoxious as they danced. Looking off to his side, he could see Starfire growing increasingly agitated, as well. He couldn't stop looking at her... she looked so good in that dress. 

Kitten pushed him deeper into the dance. "Whatcha lookin' at, Robbie-pooh?" Her face took on a predatory expression.

Robin forced his gaze back to Kitten. "Nothing."

Her smile returned. "Good, I'd hate to need to destroy your little city."

* * *

Raven and Cyborg followed BB even deeper into the ground. They finally caught up to the green shape-shifter at the bottom: He had morphed himself into a turtle and buried himself in his shell as he tumbled. Raven snorted, "That's the best solution you could come up with?" 

BB unmorphed back to his human form. "Hey," he shouted, echoing in the pitch-black underground chamber, "You try tumbling..."

Cyborg slapped a hand over his mouth, silencing him. Without the noise from the changeling, they could hear a chattering noise surrounding them. Raven raised her hand up with a black aura surrounding it, and ten thousand beady pairs of eyes glinted in the dim glow, staring back at them. The three Titans raised their communicators to their mouths. "Found them," The three said in unison.

"And now you're going to regret it." A deep voice roared. The Titans looked up, and scattered as Killer Moth dropped right where they were standing.

* * *

"Kiss me Robin," Kitten said, just as Robin got the message from the rest of the team. 

"Sorry, but I don't like you that way," Robin informed his 'date' as he pulled away from her. "In fact, I plain don't like you. We've found Killer Moth, and he's being taken down right now. This date is over." Robin pulled off his tie and started to walk away.

"Oh, no it isn't!" The blond shrieked, producing a remote control from her dress. "Daddy's not running the show tonight, Robbie-pooh... I AM! Now kiss me, or your precious city goes goodbye." She puckered up, and leaned into Robin. Resigning himself with disgust, Robin leaned in to meet her when Starfire made a flying tackle for the remote.

Kitten went down under the flying redhead and they landed on the banquet table, wrestling for the remote as the beautiful alien started a catfight over the city and him. He dared not guess which was more important to her.

"Get off of my girl!" A deep voice called out, and Fang stepped onto the boat, forcibly knocking Star away with a long leg and sending the remote flying.

"Fang, you came back!"

Fang held out the diamond necklace he had stolen earlier, "I wanted to make your junior prom perfect."

"Oh, Fang..." And the two started happily kissing.

Robin wretched, then raised his eyebrow. After the kiss entered it's second minute, Robin put on a cocky grin and cleared his throat loudly. The two lovers looked up at him, and he extended his staff. "I hate to say it, but you're a really ugly couple." Fang roared and spit webbing at him, and Robin jumped right over it. Starfire and Kitten both went for the controller, but Kitten reached it first. She held it up triumphantly, and then hit the big red button.

* * *

In the underground lab, the Titans had everything under control. Killer Moth was down, Cyborg was restraining him, and the moths were still locked down. When Kitten hit the button, though, the three instantly knew it. Klaxons blared an alert, and the cages holding the moths opened, letting the thousands of moths fly free. On the ceiling, doors started to open to let them out. "Oh no you don't," Raven said, her eyes going white. "Azarath, Metrion Zinthos!" The doors went black as Raven's soul self reached out to them, and they slammed shut. "Beast Boy, get the stairs!" BB quickly morphed to a cheetah and was gone. On the ground, Killer Moth started laughing. 

"Shut up," Cyborg said.

* * *

Starfire was managing to subdue Kitten, but Robin was having a much harder time with the spider. Robin was a fabulous fighter, but he was outnumbered 4 attacking limbs to 8. Robin was clearly winning, but he could never deal a finishing blow. Every time he got the web-head off balance, he would simply rear up and retreat. Robin just couldn't hit him! 

Finally, he got all four of the spider legs off balance, and Fang stumbled. Robin quickly delivered a quick roundhouse kick to his head, and he went down. Once Robin had finished, Starfire at last managed to knock the remote out of Kitten's hands, and it slid across the deck to land under Robin's foot. He crushed it.

* * *

Raven, Cyborg, and Beast Boy were getting very tired. Holding in the moths was taking a lot of effort, and no end in sight. The crushing of the controller brought their struggle to an abrupt end as all the moths suddenly turned back into larvae. The three titans sighed with relief... they had won the day, and as a team. BB smiled down at the larvae as he stroked one. "You know, these guys are actually pretty cute." 

"Don't even think about it, BB." Cyborg warned as Raven threw her hood back and walked towards the stairway. "What you doing, Rae?"

"Going to check on Robin and Starfire. And the name is Raven." Raven pulled the darkness of her soul-self around her, and disappeared into the shadows.

* * *

"I'll get you for this, Robin!" the spoiled blond yelled out as she was shoved into the police van along with her boyfriend. Robin just tuned her out like he had been doing all night. Star was leaning on him, and Robin had to admit it felt good to be so close to her. 

"So, I guess we did it Star."

"Yes, friend Robin, we certainly did."

The loudspeaker came on over the boat, alarming both the Titans as spotlights settled over them. "And this years Prom King and Queen are... Robin and Starfire!"

Robin blushed, grabbing the back of his head awkwardly. "Umm, might I have a dance?" Starfire nodded her head vigorously and almost dragged him to the dance floor, wrapping her arms around him and pressing their bodies close as they danced to the slow song. 'My god she's beautiful.' He thought, 'The most beautiful thing I've ever seen.'

As the song began to find down he looked up into the emerald eyes of the taller girl. 'Ask her, you idiot!' "Umm, Star? Would you like to go out with me?" Star gave him a dazzling smile that lit his heart on fire, and leaned in to him. Her sweet kiss was the only answer he needed.

* * *

Raven stood of to the side of the dance floor, practically invisible in the shadows, and she was glad for it. She really did not want to be seen right now. She was watching Robin and Starfire KISSING on the DANCE FLOOR right in front of her eyes. Robin belonged to her now. 

At first Raven looked on with a pure detachment. Her emotions, however, slowly began to seep into her sterile trance until they reached a thundering strength, screaming for release. A railing blew off the boat, tables collapsed, and balloons popped. 'I need to meditate...NOW. I need to get out of here.'

Raven's powers could have transported her instantly to Titan Tower, but she wasn't about to risk trying to use her powers, so she walked. Her emotions were too volatile now. New emotions, including several she had felt earlier today while in the presence of Starfire and Robin, stormed into a confusing and contradictory swirl, spinning around her mind until she couldn't think. Only one thought emerged clearly: 'You liked him, Raven.'

"I DID NOT" she yelled at no one in particular. Her emotions spiked, and a parked car was thrown 6 stories in the air. She needed to meditate, or she was going to kill someone. The dark empath abashedly hid her face under her hood and continued on as quickly as she could. Her strong, smooth voice was hardly a whisper now, as she admitted it to herself.

"I do…"

* * *

End Chapter 5

* * *

A/N I TOLD you it was going to be a long one. I would just like to remind everyone AGAIN that this is a Rob/Rae fic, no matter how badly it looks for Raven. Wait it out, things will get worse before they get better. They always do. As always, Read and Review. PLEASE! And since you all were so kind to review last chapter so nicely, I'll post up chapter 6 tomorrow as soon as I get off work. But PLEASE review!

Next time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

-Raven comes to terms with her feelings  
-Star and Robin have a date  
-More on Raven's origins

Next Episode - First Interlude: Shadowman.


	7. First Interlude: Shadowman

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N - Welcome to the first interlude in Fragile Dreams. I think there will be a few of these in the stories. These represent important spaces of time between episodes and give an opportunity to show thoughts of characters outside of episodes. It also allows me, the author, to use some music without giving into the temptation to make a songfic. Sorry all, but this is the easiest way for me to resist the evil temptation to sink into making songfics.

I would like to thank my reviews! I have a lot more of them than I thought I would!

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I also don't own the band Brother or the song Shadowman, and I also don't own Cartoon Network.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 6 - Interlude 1: Shadowman

* * *

Raven was haunted by that night on the boat last week. She hadn't been able to remove the thought from her mind... it was too charged with emotion, and even after meditation thinking about it caused her to come dangerously close to losing control.

She felt almost betrayed every time she saw Robin and Starfire together... and recently they were constantly together. She was feeling... Jealousy. That was the name of the emotion she first felt that night on the boat: A little hard knot of jealousy, simmering in her heart.

The new couple was on a date right now... off to see some movie or another. The empath was sitting on her bed in the lotus position, but she wasn't meditating... there was no need to. She just sat there, trying to come to terms with her feelings for the Boy Wonder and failing miserably.

Raven got up and turned on the radio: she couldn't stand the silence anymore, despite her usual preference for it. Silence let her be alone with her thoughts, and she really didn't want to face them for any longer right now. She had some creepy music that would make excellent ambiance. When the radio came on, there was a song she had never heard before in progress. It wasn't really her type of song, but she paused in turning it off when she heard the lyrics.

_...but your feelings are gone..._

_Who are you when you're alone?  
And tell me is it safe to let yourself go?  
No, no..._

'Yeah, that's the question, isn't it,' Raven thought as she reached for the dial.

_You put on a wonderful show  
Yet it's so good you **don't even know**..._

The lyrics stung, and Raven's knees suddenly felt weak. 'My god... Is that what I've been doing?' She asked herself, 'Have I really just been hiding myself, even from myself?' Even before she could answer, she knew she had been. The confused mystic sat down on the bed, deciding to hear the rest of the song out.

_Shadowman rushes in  
Taking all your clothes with him  
Can't hide from yourself anymore...  
Shadowman's standing there  
yet you're all alone just you in a chair  
but you can't hide yourself anymore..._

Raven could feel sadness welling up within her, and forcefully repressed it. "I will not cry. This will not be me."

_Now you're standing with your back to the wind  
Your eyes are taught to never give in_

_As you storm along the path  
The path that you dread  
Is nothing to the storm  
Raging in your head..._

Raven was speechless. How could she have become this? The demoness was certain that the song was describing her. As she listened, she became equally certain that she did not want to be that person.

_Shadowman rushes in  
Taking all your clothes with him  
Can't hide from yourself anymore...  
Shadowman's standing there  
yet you're all alone just you in a chair  
You can't hide yourself anymore..._

_Where are you when you're alone?  
Do you even know where you go?  
Go down, give yourself time  
Just seek and maybe you'll find..._

_Shadowman rushes in  
Taking all your clothes with him  
Can't hide from yourself anymore...  
Shadowman's standing there  
yet you're all alone just you in a chair  
You can't hide yourself anymore..._

_Shadowman...  
Shadowman..._

As the song drifted into the distance, Raven tuned out the radio after it, absentmindedly turning it off. Now she did need to meditate... being with her thoughts and her emotions was exactly what she needed. She opened a drawer in her dresser and brought out a small hand mirror. She was going to need it.

* * *

Hours later, Raven finally left her room to eat. Star was sitting on the couch with Cyborg, and Robin was walking around the room, looking under objects and in cabinets. Beast Boy was nowhere to be found. "Has anyone seen my birdarang? Where did I put that thing..." He asked as he looked under the pots and pans, "Hey, Titans? Could I get a little help here?" Raven grabbed an apple and started heating water, ignoring the rest of the team. Robin brushed against her in his search, and suddenly the water wasn't the only thing heating up. 

Raven blushed a little, and pulled down her hood further to hide it. Just being around him made her emotions want to be free... It was incredibly dangerous, but somehow attractive and relieving to the reclusive stoic. She had already decided Star couldn't have him. Raven might be a strange girl in a world she didn't completely understand, and she didn't know how she was going to pull it off, but she desperately didn't want to be the lonely, emotionally helpless girl from the song. Lost in her thought, the alert visibly broke her composure for a second.

"We have a job to do, Titans." Robin said, hooking his birdarang, which had been hiding under the couch, onto his belt. "East Bloodhaven Bank. Titans, Go!"

* * *

End Chapter 6

* * *

A/N Hope you liked it. I need to know your opinion as always, but especially on a chapter like this. Yeah, you're all going to love next chapter.

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

-The titans meet a new villain, and get stomped.  
-Why does Raven always need to keep so unemotional?  
-Robin finds himself stranded in a nightmare world he can't escape.

Next Episode: Nevermore

Also: I just realized I think I cut out the author's note where I said it. I know the Titans are supposed to be in Jump City. I moved them to Bludhaven, a city on the East Coast, which is supposed to represent Boston, I think. Well, it's supposed to represent Boston the same way Gothem Represents New York City and Metropolis represents L.A., anyway. I made this change for reasons that will become important later and should immediately be clear to any Nightwing fans.


	8. Nevermore

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N – Ok, absolute first thing goes first. I'd like to apologize to readers… I just tried to read through my own story for the first time today, and there is something screwing going on with the format I'm uploading them with because it's making spaces disappear. I'm going to see what I can do to fix that… Sorry if it annoyed anyone. Well, now that that is out of the way…

Welcome to what might be my favorite episode of the series, and where everything begins to change from the series. Little changes lead to large effects, a butterfly flapping his wings creates a storm in New York. This chapter is going to be large, maybe large enough to divide into multiple chapters. I'm giving a shout out to the story "Quoth the Raven" by Tony Dimera, which this chapter not only resembles, but helped inspire this whole fic.

Make sure you have a bunch of time on your hands before you sit down to read this one… it's the longest one so far.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? This episode also contains quite a few direct quotes from the show, because I loved the writing for it. I also don't own "Quoth the Raven," or anything by Edgar Alan Poe.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 7 - Nevermore

* * *

'This guy is tough.' Robin barely had time to think as he frantically dodged beams of destructive light. This lunatic called himself Dr. Light, as he was seriously strapped.

"You might be fast, but I doubt you'll enjoy moving at the speed of light!" Robin stumbled as a beam ripped up the ground under him and he tripped, landing in a heap on the floor. Beast Boy took advantage of the distraction by morphing to a wolf and charging the crook from behind.

"A wolf is no threat when he's blind as a bat." Dr. Light barked out as he twirled around and threw a series of flash-bangs that blew up right in front of BB. The changeling staggered away, his eyes swimming. Starfire and Cyborg attacked from both sides at once. Dr. Light threw a globe towards Star, and suddenly she was encased in a force field. As Robin could only look on in horror, Dr. Light turned and let loose a blast from the cannon on his chest, hitting Cyborg dead on. Dr. Light smiled. "Now, if nobody minds, I'll be taking the gold now."

"I mind," Raven's voice called out from the shadows. "Azarath Metrion Z-!" Dr. Light hit her with a blast from his gauntlets. "A word of advice. Find smaller magic words." Raven's eyes glowed, and Dr. Light dodged as a truck went flying towards him, countering with a blast of energy from his wrists. Raven met it head on with a blast of her own dark energy, and the two stood at a stalemate.

"Your paltry powers are no match for the power of the _Light_!" He taunted, emphasizing the word light with another strong surge of energy, tearing through Raven's blast like tissue paper. The blast hit Raven dead center, and she dropped to her knees as Dr. Light approached, facing away from Dr. Light and Robin.

In a whisper almost too soft for Robin to hear, Raven spoke. "Don't come any closer..." Robin shuddered. That voice didn't sound like the voice of the Raven he knew. Raven's voice was calm, soft, and always under control. This voice sounded like it was under great stress. This voice sounded like it wasn't human.

"What's the matter?" The arrogant villain mocked her, "Afraid of the Light?"

With an inhuman roar, Raven spun around, her black aura cackling around her as she floated to 5 or 6 feet off the ground, her cloak draping down to the ground and drifting open in an invisible wind. There wasn't a body under that cloak, just inky blackness, as tentacles of dark matter sprang into existence around her. Tentacles grabbed on to a kicking and screaming Dr. Light and dragged him towards the blackness under her cloak.

Robin looked to her face and was terrified. Her pair of strong, amethyst eyes burned red like an inferno, dancing in the darkness. The expression on her face was of pure bloodlust. "What's the matter," Raven taunted in a hissing, inhuman voice, her words a mockery of Dr. Light, "Afraid of the _DARK_?" Dr. Light could only babble surrenders as he frantically tried to grip onto something.

Robin finally shook himself out of the trance just as Dr. Light disappeared under the folds of her blue robe. "Raven, STOP!"

Raven blinked, and when her eyes opened again they were the cool crystals he was accustomed to. Her dark expression of bloodlust transformed to one of confusion, and the dark energy surrounding her disappeared instantly as she fell from her floating position, revealing a terrified Dr. Light. "Raven, what was that?" Robin asked.

"I need to go meditate now." She rose and walked into an alley and quickly disappeared into the shadows.

Robin stared after her, deep in though as the other Titans prepared Dr. Light for his trip to prison. 'I think I just realized what Zantana was talking about.' Robin thought with a shudder.

* * *

Raven awoke the next day from meditating all night. She was ashamed of herself... last night never should have happened. If Robin was going to destabilize her emotions that much, it was going to be a problem. Either she would need to grow stronger, or she would need to stay away from him. That thought made her sick to her stomach... she swore she'd find a way to grow more disciplined than ever. 

She left her room and went to go eat. Less than a minute later, she stormed out again with barely contained fury. Damn that Beast Brat! Why could he just leave her alone! Now she needed to meditate... AGAIN! As she rushed down the hall heading for the roof, she turned a corner just as Robin ran into the hall after her.

'Where did she go?' Robin thought as he slowed, seeing no Raven, 'To her room?' It made sense, so he headed for her room.

He knocked on the door. He really needed to talk to Raven. What had happened last night scared him, and the boy wonder didn't scare easily. Zantana's warning had been echoing through his head all day and night, and he wasn't about to leave until he found out much more about the mysterious Titan. "Raven? It's Robin. Can we talk?" He didn't get an answer, so after trying a few more times, he punched in an override code and opened the door.

Raven wasn't inside, but he had never been in her room before, and morbid curiosity kept him there against his better instincts. 'The decor is kind of creepy,' he thought as he looked around. His eye caught on a small object resting on top of her desk. Walking up, he noted it was a small, creepy hand mirror. Robin sighed, picking it up. 'What, did you expect it to be something enlightening? Something that said, "Here's how to understand Raven?" C'mon, why are you still in her r...'

There was no time to react. One second he saw his own reflection in the mirror, and the next all he could see was four glowing red eyes. He reflexively dropped the mirror, but a black hand shot out of it and grabbed him, pulling him into the mirror after it. He panicked, struggled, and yelled, but he was soon falling down a shadowy tunnel with no end in sight. He fell for what seemed to be minutes, and still saw nothing but pure blackness ahead.

As suddenly as the fall had started it was over, and Robin was landing hard on a platform floating over an abyss of absolute nothingness, rolling by reflex to absorb the impact. The sky was red, and there was absolutely no noise. Even the sound of him hitting the ground seemed the rapidly disappate to nothingness in the empty space. 'Where am I? Could this be where Raven is from?' Robins anger at Robin disappeared as his curiosity and detective instinct took over. 'And how do I get out?'

Even as he thought that, a collection of floating rocks assembled into a path leading into the distance. "Guess I'm walking." He kept walking for about ten minutes before he dropped to a fighting crouch as a voice called out to him.

"Turn back..." something said in a light, mellow voice. Robin looked around and finally found a raven perched on a stone ahead. It was looking right at him. As he watched it, it opened its mouth again. "Turn back..."

Robin smiled tensely, looking around. "Well, you look like you know where you are. Mind telling me how to..." When Robin looked back, the raven had disappeared. "Hey! Where'd you go!" He looked down, and saw the Raven standing at his feet. He finally noticed they had large eyes, much like Raven's. And it had friends: as Robin watched, two more landed next to it and he could see more circling around.

"Turn baaack..."

"Turn back..."

Without warning the ravens snarled, and their eyes split into four glowing red eyes. They opened jaws suddenly full of teeth and lunched at Robin. He tried his best to bat them away, but between sheer numbers and his surprise, he was quickly off balance, and felt himself teetering over the edge. He toppled off, barely managing to catch the edge and hang on for dear life.

"Hey!" A sweet voice he recognized... mostly... said from his right. He turned his head and saw Raven... wearing a**_ pink_** cloak, standing upright on the bottom of the platform. "What's up?"

"I thought I was," Robin said, and Raven laughed. She waved her hand and gravity reversed for him as well and he toppled back to the platform. 'Raven... laughed?' Now that he thought about it, that's what's so different him her voice... it actually sounded happy. Robin looked around... somehow, all the birds had gone.

"Good one!" She smiled and said held out a hand to help him up.

"Thanks..." He said, shaking her head. "Ummm..." 'Damn, there's no easy way to ask this,' "Why are you wearing pink?"

Raven raised a single finger and adopted a solemn pose. "Because it's my favorite color."

Robin shook his head in disbelief. 'This is too weird.' He looked around again as she played with hair, twirling it around her fingers and giggling. "So, Raven, how can I get out of here?"

"The secret portal. It's the only way out. But you don't reallywant to go there. Believe me hon."

'Hon?' Robin stared at her unbelievingly. "Umm, yeah, I kinda really do."

She smiled widely at him. "Ok cutie, but don't say I didn't warn ya." Before he could react, Raven had leaned in a given his a peck on the lips. She turned around and skipped down the path, whistling 'Bridge on the River Kwai.'

Robin was SHOCKED. 'Did she just...' Absolutely No _God_ **_Damn WAY_**! Stunned, but unsure of what else to do, Robin followed Raven through the stone archway...

…And promptly materialized in a new place full of bright colors and sickly sweet smells. This place was the absolute polar opposite of the dreary world he just left behind. "I guess I'm not in Kansas anymore."

Robin heard a giggle behind him, so he spun around to find Raven behind him again. "Good one!" She said with a smile. "You're a pretty funny guy, Robin." Raven again started skipping forward, and he had little choice but to follow.

* * *

Raven was meditating on the roof when Cyborg and Starfire found her. "Hey Raven," asked Cy, "Have you seen Robin recently? He went looking for you, an hour ago, and no one's seen him since." To the pair's great surprise, Raven cracked up, barking out a few laughs before slapping a hand over her mouth. 

"I need to be alone," she whispered, seemingly to herself, as she walked right through a wall back into the tower.

"Many of your Earth ways still confuse me, but that was... 'Just plain freaky,' yes?" Star asked. Cyborg could only nod.

* * *

"I can't believe she just disappeared on me." 

A few minutes ago, Robin had looked away for just a second and Raven had vanished. The disappearance of his guide had put him in a foul mood, so when he walked through another archway and teleported back to the grim looking world, he was furious. "Not back here again!" he yelled in frustration. "And where the HELL is Raven?"

"Right here." a tiny voice called out, and Robin turned to see Raven standing to his side. She looked different, and she was wearing a gray robe in place of her pink one.

"Where the hell were you? Shopping for a new CLOAK? Robin shouted and Raven shrunk beneath his yelling. It looked like Raven was going to cry. "Hey, Raven... I'm sorry. I didn't mean-"

Raven gestured to the series of walls in front of her. "The portal is on the other end of the maze. I can take you there... but when we reach the other side, you won't like me anymore." She turned and started to walk into the maze... Robin thought it looked like she might be crying, but he dismissed it as her imagination. "You already don't like me. Only her."

'What is she_ talking_ about?' Robin thought, shaking his head. 'Why is she so moody all the suddenly?' He followed her into the maze.

* * *

Raven walked into her room, still breathing hard. That was REALLY odd. Emotions just rose up in her head without a reason... right in the middle of meditation. That had never happened before. Raven's eyes glanced around her room, and saw the mirror. She must have forgotten to put this away... she shouldn't leave it out. It was too dangerous to leave lying around. 

Raven's amethysts jumped wide open as everything suddenly clicked. Robin... looking for her... missing... excited emotions... mirror out in the open...

"Oh, no…"

* * *

" ...remember that time I called you an immature braggart? Um... I'm sorry about that too. And the time I called you boy blunder... well, I'm sorry about that too. Do you remember the time I said you were an arrogant son of a..." 

Robin shook his head in disbelief. She had been doing this since we entered the maze together. "Raven, for the hundred thousandth time... _I forgive you_!"

She looked at him with mournful eyes, then she waved her hands and a wall parted to reveal another stone arch... and this one was huge.

"All right Raven! You did it!" Robin started walking towards it, but two large statues flanking it started moving. The two statues joined together, and held four mighty greatswords in its four hands. It leered down at the Boy Wonder, and he glanced at the dour girl behind him.

"I told you that you wouldn't like me when we got here," Raven said sadly as she phased into the ground.

Robin rolled to the right as the statue struck down with an overhead blow, and lashed out at the knee with his foot. He might as well have been kicking tempered steel. The other two swords closed in on Robin from both sides like a gigantic scissors, and he flipped over them, looking down as they passed just inches below his face. Robin landed two hard hits on its wrist, making each hit last only a fraction of a second to maximize force, but the stone held firm. This thing was indestructible!

"Hiii Ya!" Raven flew into the fight, and this time her cloak was forest green. The statue tried to hit her, but she leapt clean over the clumsy blow, whispering a spell as she soared. She came down striking it with two fingers, and dark energy cackled as the blow cleaved through the impervious stone like butter.

Raven landed in a crouch, then jumped up cheering as the statue toppled heavily to the ground in two pieces. "Yeah! Wooo Hooo! Gimmi five!"

Robin didn't know what to think. 'How can she be so completely changed in so short a time? Every time I see her she's like a completely different person.' Robin was confused, and he _really_ didn't like to be confused. "What is going on with you! First you smile, laugh, and kiss me, then you apologize for everything you've ever done, and now your suddenly a commando? Who are you?"

"I'm Raven!" three voices snorted in sync... two of them from behind him.

Robin spun. Two more figures had materialized right next to him... two more Ravens? These two were wearing the pink cloak and gray cloaks seen previously, and all three looked at him with an identical indignant/annoyed expression.

'Happiness, sorrow, courage... different emotions, different personalities, different parts of Raven... Oh.' Robin thought as it finally clicked, 'I'm not in her home ... I'm in her head!'

"That's right." A familiar voice called out, and the three emotions faded as the blue-cloaked Raven landed in front of him. "And I want you out. That mirror is a portal into my mind... not a _toy_!" This was probably the closest to yelling Raven had ever gotten.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..." Robin broke off as the ground started to tremble. "What's that?"

Raven mouthed something that looked suspiciously like 'oh shit,' then turned back to Robin. "You need to get out of here now."

"I don't think so, Raven" He said. "Today the secrets stop. Tell me, what's going on?"

Even as Robin spoke, a large pillar of stone rose from the ground into the sky, then lost integrity began to break apart, one chunk of rock at a time. As the two Titans watched in horrified fascination, a red skinned figure almost ten meters tall emerged. He had horns, a mouth full of teeth, and four eyes like glowing rubies. He roared into the sky with a voice that sounded cultured even through its bloodlust and evil. "Hatred shall rule!"

"Let's just say I have issues with my father." She turned to Robin. "Get out of here, this is my fight." Even as she told him, her soul self pushed him towards the portal. She flew up to meet her father head on.

* * *

Trigon. Her anger was his legacy, and in her own thoughts Trigon WAS her anger and hatred... it only figured her anger would take on his image. She was fighting... but losing. Her blasts of energy only seemed to annoy him. 'Trigon' managed to swat her out of the sky. As 'Trigon' stared down at her with those four bloody eyes, Raven knew she was finished. 

She couldn't defeat Trigon... She couldn't even defeat her own anger. She never could, really. As 'Trigon' roared down at her, she prepared for the end, just happy that Robin was safe. 'I'm sorry, Robin... I'll miss you.' Unexpectedly, an explosion blossomed on the side of his head, staggering him sideways.

"Get away from her!" Robin yelled, throwing more bombs at her 'father' as he used a tree to launch himself at the demon's face. Trigon staggered and lost his balance, falling over the side of the platform. Robin landed, and ran to where Raven lay. "Are you all right?"

Raven nodded. "I'm fine..." She started to blush despite herself, and prayed her cloak hid it. Trigon climbed back on to the platform, roaring as he searched for them. "Trigon's too strong... and I'm too weak here to fight my father."

* * *

"Why aren't you strong enough?"

"I'm an empath, Robin. My powers come from emotions... and my mind is a tomb designed specifically to keep my emotions buried."

"Why don't you call on them for help? That green Raven was pretty tough."

Raven shook her head. "She's not powerful enough either."

Robin cocked his head as a thought occurred to him. "What about all of them together?"

Raven gave him a look that told him he didn't understand what he was talking out, but it slowly faded and a sparkle appeared in her purple eyes. "We can try." Raven stood and crossed her arms across her chest. "Azarath… Metrion… Zinthos..." the mage intoned as her eyes went black. Chanting words of a spell softly, she uncrossed her arms, extended then, and refolded them, coming full circle. The dust blew around, propelled by the unnatural wave of magical energy. Seven Ravens slowly materialized out of the dusk fog, each with a different colored cloak. Yellow, orange, pink, green, gray, brown, and purple.

Raven began to levitate up. Her emotions followed, circling her slowly. Rays of light leapt out to attach the eight cloaked figures to each other, and Robin had to block his eyes as a flash of light exploded from the circle. When he looked back, a giant Raven stood there, her pure white cloak billowing in the wind.

Trigon, as Raven had called him, charged this new Raven with his eyes glowing fiercely. He let loose a blast of red energy, and the transformed empath met it with a blast of her own darkness. The silent power struggle continued for what felt like hours to Robin as he stared, but really didn't even last thirty seconds. Raven's blast cut through her father's, and he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Robin peered through the smoke, and could just make out a red-cloaked Raven standing in the fog. She looked up, and Robin saw four glowing red eyes stare out from beneath her hood. A strand of energy shot between the two Ravens, and the white-cloaked figure lurched with pain as this new emotion was integrated into it.

When the dust from the spell dissipated, all Robin saw was the blue-cloaked empath falling. He caught her, and smiled in relief. Raven returned the smile, albeit weakly. "We did it," she spoke, her voice calm but her eyes betraying both her excitement and her exhaustion. Robin felt his heart begin to warm... that was a genuine smile, and it was sincere. He let her down, and she gestured to the portal. "Go ahead, I will follow in a moment."

The Titan's leader looked at Raven one last time, then he walked through the portal. As he did, he saw Raven turn back to her emotions out of the corner of his eye. 'She's really beautiful when she smiles…' he thought.

* * *

Raven spun back on her emotions, all traces of good humor gone from her face. She had just noticed something. Her eyes started to glow white as she examined her assembled emotions. Her deadly gaze swept over the nine cloaked figures. 

But a moment ago there were only eight.

Raven's gaze finally landed on a copy of her in a gold robe. "Who are you?"

The girl looked up, meeting her gaze. Unlike the others, this one was not a perfect copy... it seemed a younger and more innocent version of herself. The feeling smiled. "I can't tell you that."

"And why not?" Raven snorted, unhappily. She disliked playing games with people, and especially the guessing kind.

"It's forbidden... you must discover me for yourself," she chided. "When you're ready for me, you'll know who I am."

* * *

Robin landed in a heap as he tumbled out of the mirror into Raven's room. Her room was dark, but he could see Raven floating in the lotus position over her bed, deep in meditation. Her features were so delicate, and the moonlight (god, when did it get so late?) drifting in through the window landed on her ghostly features, lighting up her ethereal face in the most b- 

Robin's thoughts were stopped abruptly as Raven's amethyst eyes opened. She focused on him, and she was smiling again. "I'm sorry Raven, I didn't mean to -"

"Don't worry about it, Robin. You're forgiven." Raven said as she floated back down to the bed, and lay back. "However... _you_ will have to explain to the others where you disappeared to today, and I would appreciate a little bit of... discretion."

'Translation: Don't tell anyone I ended up in your mind, your father is this giant angry 'thing,' and your favorite color is pink.' Robin thought. "Gotcha." Understanding the inherent dismissal, he turned to leave.

"And Robin?"

He turned back to see Raven lying on her side on the bed, eyes closed. "Yes?"

"..." Raven paused, clenching her jaw a little as she nibbled her lip.

"Yes?"

"Thank you... for your help."

Robin smiled, "Anytime."

"Good night, Robin."

"Good night Raven." Robin left her room and went to his own. The hallways were deserted. His clock read 2:24 am... god it was late. He must have been in there for hours. He got in bed and quickly fell asleep. Robin thought of Starfire as usual as he slept, but in his dreams, thoughts of a dark empath and her kiss also began to appear.

* * *

End Chapter 7

* * *

A/N

Yeah… That. Was. LONG! It was really fun to write, though, and hopefully to read. That was perhaps the most important chapter yet. Reviewing is just a button click away...

So now, you all tell me how obvious I really am. Two reviewers managed to guess what was going to happen with this chapter, so I'm curious to see if you can figure this one out. I'll entertain guesses about who the newcomer in Raven's mind is. I personally think it's pretty transparent… who knows, I might even tell you if you're right.

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

-Robin grows increasingly obsessed with Slade  
-The Titans fall into a trap  
-Betrayal!

Next Episode - The Apprentice, Part 1


	9. The Apprentice, Part 1

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Yeah, a lot actually happens between this episode and Nevermore. Those episodes aren't importantly changed, so I'm ignoring them... for now. Flashbacks and memories of them might become important. For reference, here is the chronology so far:

Final Exam  
Sisters takes place, but is NOT SHOWN because there is no change to the episode.  
Divide and Conquer  
Forces of Nature  
Date with Destiny  
Nevermore

Deep 6 takes place, but is NOT SHOWN because there is no change to the episode. The Sum of His Parts takes place, but is NOT SHOWN because there is no change to the episode.  
Masks takes place, but is NOT SHOWN because… it will be told through flashbacks.

There. That should help clear up any confusion. One final note: Raven's sixteenth birthday came and went in between these chapters, and since no one else knows what it is yet, nothing happened.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 8 - The Apprentice, Part 1

* * *

Robin was facing down Slade alone, chasing him through a series of desert hills. When he finally caught up to his arch-enemy, Slade was waiting for him between a set of four stone pillars. "So now you've found me." Slade said in his immaculate tone (A/N Ron Pearlman is the god of voice acting, seriously). 

"And now I'm going to stop you." Robin replied as he brought out his staff.

Slade started circling, and as he passed behind a pillar he taunted Robin. "But how can you stop me when you don't know what I'm planning?" Robin tried to attack him, but the criminal, masterfully dodged out of the way of all his strikes, counter-attacking viciously. Robin finally landed a hard blow to the head, and Slade went down in a heap.

Robin grabbed him by the collar of his armor and pulled him up so he was looking Slade in the eye. "Now I've beaten you." Slade just laughed and laughed, finally managing to stop.

"And look what you've lost to do it." Robin glanced around, his face taking an expression of horror. During the battle, the four pillars had been destroyed. In the ruin of each, he could make out the ruined form of a Titan.

The first one he found was Cyborg. His arm ripped off, he lay staring off at the sky, his eyes unfocused and his expression one of so complete a resignation it reminded him of nothing Cy had ever done. The next was Beast Boy, his crushed form emerging from halfway under a mountain of stone. Starfire was likewise crushed, an expression of sorrow creasing the lovely features he had seen so commonly.

Last, Robin spotted Raven, petrified and head detached from the body, but still seeming to glare right at him. Her eyes, emotionless to most, seemed to shine for him with accusation and betrayal. She blamed him. This was his fault. "Raven..."

Robin's head snapped back to the limp form in his hands. "Who are you!" He ripped off the mask, but all he saw was his own face, smirking back at him. His duplicate laughed and laughed, the sinister sound haunting Robin.

* * *

Robin awoke with a start. Every night a new dream of Slade, growing increasingly disturbing to the teenage leader. 'God damn it, why was this man such an enigma?' Robin frowned. He had a beautiful girl who was absolutely dedicated to him, a team that was finally functioning, and real friends for the first time. Despite it all, the last two months were anything but pleasant. 

Ever since his brief fight with the disguised Slade when Thunder and Lightning attacked, he had been preoccupied with him, even to the point of pretending to be Red X, ditching his team. That had been a disaster, resulting in Slade beating him badly and him losing the trust of his own team. Raven still had barely talked to him since that.

Raven... he found him thinking about her more and more recently, no matter how hard he tried to banish the beautiful empath from his head. When he was with Star he could think only of his Slade, but every other time Slade and Robin jointly dominated his thoughts. 'Damn it, I'm not supposed to feel this way!' He punched the wall by his bed.

Just then his door opened and Cy walked in. "It's him. It's Slade." Robin and Cy hurried to the Command Room where the rest of the team was already waiting.

* * *

"Hello Titans. I hope I didn't wake you." 

Beast Boy was the only one to respond. "Dude, it's 5:00 in the mourning. What are you, some kind of insomniac villain?" Raven elbowed him, and he shut up.

"I've tried to leave you plenty of clues, but since you've been unable to discover my plans, I suppose I shall simply need to tell you." Slade stepped to the side, revealing a group of Slade bots working on a large, cylindrical object. "Can I assume your all familiar with a chronoton detonation?"

A collective chorus of gasps went up. BB looked embarrassed, and turned to Starfire. "What is that?"

"A bomb that shall remove all chronoton ions from matter in it's radius, disrupting the continuum of time-space."

He looked exasperated and more confused than before. "And that means?"

"It stops time," Raven said calmly, as if discussing dinner, "Permanently."

"Eeep!"

"We will stop you Slade!" Robin said, slamming his fist into the control panel.

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't try. See you soon, Titans."

As Slade signed off, Robin turned and started to storm out of the room. "Hey, Robin," Cy started.

The boy wonder spun, cape flaring angrily. "What?" Cyborg suddenly found the panel on his arm very interesting.

"Me and the others think maybe you should sit this one out." Cyborg said, not daring to meet the masked eyes of his leader. "No offense, but you get kinda crazy around Slade."

"I can handle it."

"Friend Robin, Cyborg is correct. Slade brings out much of the bad Robin." Starfire said, nervously wringing her hands behind her back.

Robin was shocked. Starfire was in on this? The others... including... Raven? He felt strangely hollow at the thought. He also felt betrayed. Hadn't she swore she would be loyal to him? Wasn't this the girl that had shown her trust for him in her own mind? If Raven had abandoned him now, he had nothing. He was about to just give in when Raven spoke softly from the screen. "Let him come. If he says he can handle it, he can."

Everyone looked at Raven. She was the last person any of the Titans expected to speak up. "Besides, Slade gave us more information than he thought. I found the bomb. Pier 41, the docks."

The three semi-mutinous Titans looked at each other, and shrugged. The area around the Titans went pitch black as Raven surrounded them with her soul-self. They briefly took the form of a Raven and faded into nothingness, reappearing just outside the docks. Robin shrugged of the flutters in his stomach that always came with that sort of transport. "Titans, Go!"

* * *

Raven hoped he had made the right choice. Robin _did_ sometimes lose control when it came to Slade... she trusted him to figure it out and get it together. She trusted him... was loyal to him. 

The reason for her unswerving loyalty still evaded her, and the phenomenon got more confusing the longer it lasted. Why wad she still so loyal to him? Hadn't he betrayed her trust by going alone against Slade as Red X? She still remembered the barely restrained anger as she instructed him "Don't you _ever_ do that to me again, Robin." She hadn't really talked to him for two weeks since, but somehow her trust for him had returned, stronger than ever.

The Titans burst into the warehouse on pier 41, but it was empty. She sighed. Again, Slade was always a step ahead. Slade bots started dropping down from the ceiling. 'I guess the warehouse wasn't quite empty after all.

The Titans grouped up, then exploded into motion. Robin was moving faster than she'd ever seen before. She stared on in awe as he fought, taking on bots by the dozen, a real one-man army. The Titans stopped really trying as they stared at the spectacle of Robin winning by himself. "Dude," Cy finally dared to say as Robin beat mindlessly on a bot. "They're all done. We won."

Robin spun, sweating and breathing hard. "You call this victory! Slade got away, and has his finger on the detonator!" He stormed off. That was really worrisome. Raven again really hoped she made the right choice.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, the Titans were marching through the sewers, following Star's nose. Cy stopped, pointed at his wrist sensor, and nodded ahead. He had found the bomb. As the Titans closed on it, the boat it was on raced off. As they gave choice, a pair of gray arms blasted through the sewer walls and grabbed Robin. Raven looked in, and saw Robin battling it out with Cinderblock. "Go! Get the bomb!" He yelled to the others as he fought. 

Raven hesitated. The last thing she wanted to do was leave Robin to fight alone, but she knew he was right... the bomb was most important. Her rational mind told her to go, but emotions screamed at her to stay, and the conflict was tearing her up inside. 'Trust...' She resumed levitating, and flew after the boat as fast as she could.

* * *

Robin was dodging from pillar to pillar in the vast room, just seconds before Cinderblock smashed them. On the third leap, Robin shot his grappling hook at the pillar he was leaping towards, using it as a pivot point to change directions, converting all his motion to a kick directly at Cinderblock's face. The massive stone golem staggered and went down. Robin dropped into a fighting crouch. "It's only fair to warn you: You caught me on a bad day." 

Cinderblock got to his feet and charged again. Robin did a wall kick off one of the pillars, leaping clear over the charge and landing on the head. Robin placed a bomb on the back of his head, and then jumped away as it blew. He smiled as Cinderblock careened into a wall, and went down. He didn't get up.

Robin was about to run of after his team, but then he saw something in Cinderblock's hand. A tracking device. On it, it showed his current position, the position of the bomb, and a blinking S.

Slade.

Robin slowly smiled.

* * *

Slade was watching the screen where the Titans were desperately chasing after his bomb when the door to his clock tower blew open. He almost sighed. 'So predictable.' 

"I've been waiting for you, Robin," he intoned without bothing to turn around. "I was beginning to think Cinderblock had been too much a challenge."

"I'm taking you down Slade!"

"Really?" he responded, his voice never losing its calm. He produced a detonator and lay it down halfway between Robin and himself. "If that's so, come and claim it." Robin charged, and launched himself in a flying kick. Slade ducked, back stepping Robin's next furious attack as he threw a threesome of bone crushing punches. Robin jumped, delivering two spinning kicks that Slade deflected, ruining the Titan's balance and sending him to the ground.

Robin rolled to his feet, coming up right next to the detonator. He made a quick rush for it, but Slade's flying kick knocked him too far away, and the pair came up in a beautiful choreography of strikes, parries, and counters. Robin would attack; Slade would either block or evade, and follow up by launching a counter. Robin would then parry or dodge, then make his own riposte. Robin couldn't land a real hit on Slade, he was getting frustrated to the point he was going to try something risky.

After rolling out of the way of a skull shattering kick from his nemesis, the Titan's leader came up with a spin of his staff, hitting Slade in the knee. Robin used the impact from that blow to reverse his rotation, shifting his grip on the staff as he spun so he now held it by the end and it had essentially doubled it's length. He whipped around in the spin, catching Slade under the chin with the wicked roundhouse blow as the mastermind tried to back up and evade. 'Yes!'

Robin's victory was short lived, however. Slade continued the spin given by the horizontal swing, and as he came around his hand lashed out the grab the quarter-staff. Slade's strength and the added momentum of his spin was more than enough to wrench the weapon out of the boy wonder's hands, and Slade stopped his spin with a roll backwards. He came up in a crouch, staff at the ready. "You'll have to do better than that to stop me, Robin."

Robin, however, was no longer facing Slade. When Slade had taken his weapon, the spin and the following backwards roll had created a blind spot for a second or two, and Robin had used it to claim the detonator. "Clever kid." Slade said, and you could just tell he was smirking under the mask. "Unfortunately, it doesn't do anything." As Slade spoke, the detonator fell to pieces in Robin's hands.

"Where is the real detonator!" Robin roared, his voice deadly.

"There is no detonator, because there is no bomb. Your team has already discovered the decoy by now." Slade unconcernedly walked up to the computer console and began to type.

'Raven…' was his first though, followed guiltily by 'Starfire…' a second later. "What do you want with them?

Slade stopped typing, and actually looked at Robin. "I don't want anything from them, Robin," he said, sounding disappointed. "It's never been about them, it's all about you. Leaving clues behind for you to find, the challenges, the fight we just had… I was testing you." The monologueing villain continued his typing. "You see, for some time now I've been looking for an apprentice; someone to carry on for me when I'm gone. And Robin… I've chosen you. After all, we are so very much alike."

The Titan was practically shaking with rage. "I am _nothing_ like you! I will never serve you!"

"Oh, I disagree Robin. You'll serve me quite willingly. Observe." The screen now showed the Chronoton bomb fizzling in front of the other four titans, and then a laser popped up from behind and blasted the four. They went flying into the water but seemed otherwise unhurt. "Don't get your hopes up. I assure you, it worked." Slade boasted, as if reading Robin's doubtful thoughts. He tapped a few more keys, and the big screen suddenly displayed a view of the inside of veins in the four Titans. Millions of microscopic robots were even now attaching themselves to cells.

Slade help up another detonator. "This remote will trigger the nanite bombs, destroying your friends in moments. If you obey my every command, my slightest whim, your friends will live. Do you understand where I'm going with this?"

Robin tried hard to look confidant, but he knew he had lost yet again. This time, the cost would be the lives of his friends… Raven included. 'I don't have a choice,' he thought.

"I'll do it"

* * *

Raven and the other three titans were now walking the streets, looking for Robin. His communicator seemed to be off, as was his locator. Starfire frantically tried to raise him, and Raven tried to psychically sweep the city with equal fervor, if more calmly. 'Where are you, Robin?' 

'I shouldn't have let him fight alone.'

* * *

End Chapter 8

* * *

A/N – Wow… it's been a while since I did any real fight choreographing, and to be honest I really enjoyed being able to write some more of it. You guys, the reviews get the final call though. Did you like the in depth writing on the fight scene? I'm a martial artist myself, so I have a pretty good idea of what each fighter is thinking and trying to do. Do you want me to keep detailing fight scenes? Well, the important ones anyway. 

Anyway… there's a little blue button just to the left of this paragraph. Click it. Tell me what you think. That's all there is to it.

Next time on Teen Titan - Fragile Dreams:

-The team finds Robin  
-Raven realizes just how much she really trusts Robin  
-It's time for the evil genius to take a fall.  
-And it's time for another LONG chapter.

Next Episode – The Apprentice, Part 2


	10. The Apprentice, Part 2

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N I would like to say THANK YOU to my reviewers. You make writing this interesting.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned the Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 8 - The Apprentice, Part 2

* * *

'Damn it, Robin… where are you?' That single thought was a perfect summary of the last few days for Raven. Ever since the morning Robin had disappeared three days ago, she had thought about nothing else but finding him. She had barely meditated, her emotions were barely kept under control, and her human side was beginning to suffer from lack of sleep as well. Even Starfire had rested more than she had. Not that Starfire had much choice in the matter… Cyborg and BB had pretty much forced her to get some rest.

No one was stupid enough to try and force Raven to do anything.

Everyday, she monitored every radio frequency, visually swept as much of the city as she could until it got dark, and then mentally looked for his aura after the darkness had made a visual sweep useless. Searching for a single aura in a city of millions was a lost cause and she knew it, but still she tried.

"Robin…" she muttered to herself as she absently drank herbal tea on the roof that morning, waiting for it to be light enough to go and search for him. It was uncharacteristic for her to care so much about anything… the marked characteristic of her life so far had been her apathy. Now, suddenly, she couldn't even sleep because someone who she probably didn't mean anything to had gone missing. If Raven weren't so torn up about it, her cynical side would probably laugh at the irony. Guilt was also torturing her. 'He wouldn't have even been there if I hadn't insisted he should be,' she told herself, 'I never should have let him fight alone.'

Dawn. Time for her search to begin anew. Raven sighed and drew her cloak around her.

* * *

That night, a shadowy figure leapt from rooftop to rooftop, finally dropping and rolling to a stop behind a glowing sign that said Wayne Enterprises. The intruder kicked open a maintenance panel behind the A, and dropped down into a crawlspace. No alarms had been triggered yet. Coming out of the crawlspace, he dropped silently into a bright hallway and threw his weight sideways, falling into a combat roll that slipped into the darker stairwell to his left. The infiltrator quickly and silently stepped down the stairs for 3 levels, and then opened the door out a crack and looked on. 

Two guards, automatic weapons. No difficulty. The shadow opened the door a little wider, and rolled a grenade towards the pair. They noticed it halfway, but they could do little more than yell into their radios before it burst into smoke. The intruder had no difficulty rushing up through the smoke, and both guards were down before they knew what had happened. Now an alarm was sounded, but it was far to late. Entering a key code no intruder should have known, he entered a storage room with a small hand cannon floating in the center. He grabbed it and ran back to the stairs, up and up. When he emerged onto the roof, however, four figures were waiting for him: The Titans. 'Blast,' he thought. The masked intruder ran.

"Hey! Freeze!" Cyborg yelled, but the thief paid no mind. After he ran over a narrow catwalk to another part of the roof, he found himself with nowhere to go. Cyborg said as much. "There's nowhere to go now," he said evenly as he raised his light. "Just come quietly and…" He cut off in shock as the light went high enough to reveal Robin's masked face.

"Not a word, Robin." Slade whispered into his ear through their communicator. Robin pointed the blaster down the catwalk between himself and his former team and leaped off to the east as he fired a blast. It exploded in flames that blocked their sight of their leader. When the Titans could see again, Robin was long gone.

* * *

Raven tuned out Beast Boy's ridiculous explanation after explanation over how Robin came to be on the roof. A clone, a robot, mind control, on and on. Raven knew the exercise was a waste of time. She _knew_ it was Robin… she could _feel_ him. She just couldn't believe it. She had trusted him! How could Robin do this? She desperately wanted to believe anything other that what she knew to be true, but she couldn't speak up and say it. 

"No!" Starfire spoke up, saying what Raven could not. "Robin is our friend. Your sensors are wrong friend Cyborg."

Raven's hair swirled before she got her emotions completely under control. Starfire was so wrong, but Raven couldn't disagree with her even in her own mind. She couldn't come to terms with that _Robin_ would betray them, betray her like this. "One way or the other," Raven finally spoke, and everyone looked to the sullen girl: She had maybe said 10 words since Robin went missing. "We need to stop him first. Then we can figure out why." Her voice broke as she finished, and although everyone noticed it, no one dared to comment. Cyborg, then the rest of the team, nodded just in time for the alarm to sound.

* * *

Robin, now with the blaster attached to his suit, was trying to steal another weapons system from another branch of Wayne Enterprises when the Titans caught up to him. "Robin, stop!" Slade's apprentice did anything but, vaulting over Cyborg and straight at the hovering Raven and Starfire. They dodged out of the way, but Robin wasn't after them: he grabbed onto a bar on the ceiling and kicked his way through a ventilation duct. He was on the roof practically before the Titans realized he was gone. 

When the Titans finally reached the roof, Robin was still there, talking into a microphone. The roof was huge, and had another huge set of letters on it spelling out WAYNE in glowing white light. "Robin, we don't want to fight you… we just want to talk." Cyborg said, holding his hands out wide in a harmless gesture. Robin answered with a flying kick, sending his former teammate flying backwards.

"I guess there's nothing to talk about," BB said with a snarl, turning to a gorilla and rushing Robin. The martial artist wasted no time in restraining him with the help of a modified birdarang and the gap in the letter A. Robin jumped down and rushed Starfire, but Raven met him halfway there, meeting him in melee with an amount of skill that no one knew she possessed.

The empath immediately knew something was wrong. Raven knew how to fight, but Robin was far better… he wasn't putting any real effort into this. 'Almost like he doesn't want to hurt me.' She thought.

Raven fought in melee with a unique style. The attacks and parries were primarily made with hand-to-hand blows, but whenever she wasn't quick enough to block or whenever Robin found a weakness to get through, a shield of dark energy was there to deflect his attacks. Robin, fighting with his full talent, could almost certainly manage to defeat Raven's defense. Fighting half-heartedly, there wasn't a chance in hell.

Raven watched as Cyborg got back up and pointed his cannon at Robin. She could have cried in relief when he put it back away and charged into the melee. While Robin was busy with the two of them, BB had managed to free himself, and turned into a ram, blindsiding Robin from behind and knocking him sprawling towards the edge of the roof. Robin lay very still, and Beast Boy returned to his human form with a worried look on his face. "Dude, are you ok?" he asked as he walked towards the fallen Titan leader. "I didn't mean…" BB was cut off as Robin came up kicking, sweeping BB off his feet. Raven levitated Robin up to immobilize him, but Robin threw a disk between her and Star that exploded like a miniature sun, momentarily turning night into day. Raven pulled her soul self back to prevent herself from being blinded, but Star was probably down for the moment.

Once Raven dropped her shield to see, she noted that Cyborg was down with a throw grapple twisted around his feet, and Robin was up on the A, running towards the E. He was trying to escape. 'Oh no you don't,' she though, levitating herself up to the end of the E. She came up right in front of Robin, her hands surrounded by a black aura as she extended her arm out at her former leader. "Stop."

Raven's glowing eyes met Robin's mask, and for a moment no one dared to move. The two Titans on the ground that could still see watched in apprehension as Raven and Slade stared each other down. "Do not move." She instructed him. Slowly, Robin raised his arm to point it at her, and the barrel of the cannon started to glow red.

Raven's empath gave her certain abilities, and among them was a limited ability to read thoughts and emotions. She almost never used this ability, out of respect for the privacy of a person's thoughts, but she used it to scan Robin now. He was… confused. Angry. Upset. Nowhere did she detect any malice, any real hate. In her mind, points argued back and forth, her read of Robin, her opinion of the man, and her earlier belief that he wasn't fighting seriously against the concrete evidence of a man pointing a gun at her. She mentally sighed. Again, it all came down to trust. Did she trust that Robin would not betray her, Starfire or no?

Despite herself, she did.

Raven's eyes stopped glowing, revealing to Robin the deep sadness and hurt in them. The aura encasing her hands faded away, and she lowered her hands. "I believe in you. If you truly are not one of us, kill me now." She floated in front of the glowing barrel at Robin's complete mercy. If he decided to shoot now, she would have no chance to put up a defense, and everyone knew it. If Robin wasn't really an ally, Raven was dead.

Robin lowered his arm. "Raven, I…" He shook with pain, falling to his knees. While Raven looked on confused, she gained an increasing sense from her body that something was very, very wrong. Then the pain started. Every single part of her body began screaming in pain at once, and she lost the concentration she needed to stay afloat. She fell, and felt herself be caught in Robin's arms.

Another time, she would have enjoyed this. Now, she just felt like she was dying. "Robin…"

He held her tenderly for a few seconds, and then gently set her on top of the letter. "I'm so sorry, Raven…" was the last thing she heard before blacking out.

* * *

When she woke up about five minutes later, she had no idea what had happened. The blazing pain was gone, but so was Robin… until he quickly and viciously attacked from the shadows. His blaster cut a seething line between her and BB as he landed next to the green changeling and swept him off his feet. Robin caught the shape shifter's leg as BB went down and pivoted to throw him at Raven. Raven was knocked off her feet as well, and went flying backwards with BB. He grabbed Raven's cloak as she passed, lifting the blue cloth right off of her. He jumped over Cyborg clumsy punch and landed on his back, dropping him to the ground. Starfire ended up with the cloak wrapped around her eyes, blinding her a moment. Raven recovered quickly and stared to react to Robin's assault, so he spun and shot a crimson blast at Raven, and her soul self shot out to project a shielding dome. Raven quickly stripped the blaster from his wrist with her powers but they caught a second flashbang in the face as he leapt off the building to the east. When she could finally see again, Robin was gone. 

"Dude," Beast Boy said, scratching his head in confusion, "I know Robin got that blaster thingy, but where did he learn that 'orange-glowy-painful-thingy?' That was a new trick…"

"I don't believe that was his trick." Raven said, looking in the direction he had disappeared.

* * *

Later that night at Titan Tower, Cyborg quickly figured out what was wrong with the Titans. "There are millions of them inside each of us. Nanobombs. They attach themselves to cells in critical areas. Someone pulls a trigger, and they all start blowing up." 

"With such technology at his disposal, Slade could destroy us at any time." Starfire stated.

"Unless Robin does exactly what he wants." Raven said, her eyes starting to glow as a little too much anger escaped. 'So that's the way you want to play it, huh Slade?' She thought. 'I can play hardball, too.' She walked to the map of the city kept on one side of the room, listening with half an ear as the other Titans argued.

"What are we going to do?"

"Duh, need to rescue him! We can't let Slade have him!"

"But we don't even know where friend Robin is! How can we help him?"

"Starfire's right, BB. We can't just rescue him… first we need to find him, and before the city turns against him."

"But how, friend Cyborg?"

"Yeah, you're the leader without Robin, so what do you plan to do?"

"Well, maybe we should… no, that wouldn't work. Damn it! Without knowing where he is, there isn't much we can do. If we knew, then I think we should-"

Raven interrupted from the other side of the room. "Sorry to interrupt, but does anyone have a pen?" The other Titans came over to where Raven was standing by the map. She had pushed two markers onto it, and was holding a ruler by one of them. "A pen please?"

"Um… friend Raven? What are you doing?"

"Finding Robin. Pen, please."

"How are you going to…" Cyborg started, but backed off when he realized the black aura Raven was starting to give off.

"Pen. Please. **Now!**" She said, barely containing her volatile emotions. Without another word, Cyborg went to get her one. Raven began to trace a line with the ruler and the pen on the map.

"What is that, friend Raven?"

"The direction Robin ran off from the two robberies." Raven made another line from the same point, making a cone of roughly 10 degrees.

"There's no way you can know that so exactly!" BB exclaimed in frustration.

"Hence the cone, oh green one." Raven responded. "I'm going to look at the overlap. Once I have an small general area to search, I'll use my empathy to look for Robin." Cyborg, BB, and Starfire suddenly slapped their foreheads as one, wearing identical 'Why didn't we think of that?' expressions.

As it turned out, Raven's empathy wasn't needed: There was only one building remotely close that made sense. "Clocktower," Raven stated simply, smiling a little for the first time since Robin's disappearance.

Cyborg smiled as well. "Teen Titans, move!"

* * *

In Slade's lair, Robin wasn't doing very well. As a matter of fact, he was getting his ass handed to him all over again by Slade. After his escape from the Titans, he had attacked his 'master' in a fury. 

Still dizzy from Slade's last blow, Robin charged again. Slade sidestepped the attack, grabbing his apprentice's arm as he passed. The evil mastermind used the leverage to painfully force Robin to his knees, arm folded helpless behind his back.

"I offered you a position at my side, all of my wisdom, all of my knowledge, it could all be yours." Slade glanced at the screen behind him, and then bent down lower so he was whispering in Robin's ear. "But all you care about is your sniveling, little, _friends!_" He broke of, releasing Robin's arm as he brought it back in front of him and tried to rub the feeling back into it. "If the Titans are such a distraction, maybe I should remove them."

"No…" Robin said, completely resigned. "I'll do as you ask."

Robin had barely finished the sentence when a glowing Starbolt knocked Slade off his feet. He turned and saw the remaining four Titans formed up on the level just above the master and apprentice. "Leave him _alone!_" Starfire said, he voice filled with unusual anger.

"Guys, you need to get out of here!" Robin yelled. "If you don't…"

"We know, Robin." Raven said, silencing him with her purple eyes. "We know. We aren't leaving without you."

'Raven…' he thought. Somehow, he knew that she had brought the team here. She had been the one to find her, and decide he had to be rescued no matter the cost. He spoke his thoughts aloud "Raven…"

Slade chose that moment to re-enter the conversation. "Annoying rats. You have outlived your usefulness." He again pressed the button built into his armored bracers, and the Titans screamed with pain as detonations started internally.

Robin didn't know what to do. He couldn't beat Slade, he couldn't save his friends, and he couldn't even save himself from watching. Robin saw his girlfriend collapse, crying in the pain of the internal detonations, but the person he couldn't look away from was Raven. He watchedthe dark girlfall to the floor, writhing in agony, and something inside him snapped. In the middle of conflict, Richard Grayson found clarity. The hero knew he would do whatever it took, _ever,_ to protect that girl. He didn't know what to do, but suddenly he was desperate enough to find anything.

Robin looked around desperately for inspiration, and suddenly he had an idea. He ran to the other side of the room, paste the Titans. Slade just watched in mild amusement, uncomprehending of what Robin intended. Robin reached a ray gun on the otherside of the room, and pointed it at his own chest. Slade, too late, realized the hero's plan. "No!" he yelled, running towards Robin at a superhuman speed.

He was way too late. Before he had gotten halfway there, Robin triggered the ray on himself, and he too started quickly glowing orange. He struggled to keep his focus even as he fell to his knees in the face of the blinding pain. "New rule, Slade." He forced out in a strained voice. "I lose my friends, you lose your apprentice. And I know how much you hate to lose."

"Well played, Robin." Slade dropped the remote, and crushed it underfoot.The pain the Titans were feeling instantly stopped. With a roar, Slade charged the recovering Titans.

Not fast enough. "Azarath, Metrion Zinthos!" Slade dodged a gaint cog that flew right by him, just in time to take a glancing hit from Cyborg's sonic cannon. Beast Boy charged Slade as an ape, but Slade had little trouble dodging. When both Robin and Cyborg joined the melee though, dodging all the attacks began difficult. He had to jump and do a series of kick flips off of clock parts to avoid a volly of green plasma from Starfire, only to catch a flying disk to the face, courtasy of Raven.

Slades already cracked mask came apart, revealing a glace of a scarred, single eyed face before he covered it with his arm. "Well played indeed, Titans." He hit a button on his arm, and the building started coming down around the combatants. "I'll see you again, Robin..." Slade said, turning and running somewhere deeper into the tower. Robin thought to follow after him, but a quick glance at the team's empath banished any thoughts of that. He turned and ran out with the team, leaving Slade behind.

* * *

"That's it, we're all clean." Cyborg announced happily to the assembled Titans. "Slade's nasties are all gone." 

BB leaped off the chair and practically ripped all the cords off of him. "I'm all natural again! Yeah! Go Beast Boy, go Beast Boy!" He danced around while the other Titans laughed.

The team had almost instantly forgiven Robin: they realized he had no choice. Robin was just glad he could be part of such a team... he had managed to do something right as he put them together. Cyborg had held the team together just fine in his absence, justifying his decision to recruit him as his second in command. The team trusted him.

Trust... Just the thought of it reminded him of Raven. Every time he had a moment to think visions of Raven floating helpless before him came to mind. THAT was trust. One girl deciding that she believed in the man with a gun to her head, despite all evidence to the contrary. He wasn't sure he had it in him. He would have never thought Raven had it in her to believe like that.

From that moment on, Robin knew he could always trust Raven completely. To her, the pledge of loyalty was unbreakably strong... he wanted to think he was worthy of such allegiance, such trust.

As he thought about Raven, Starfire came up and sat against him, leaning into him. Robin couldn't help but compare the two girls. Starfire was very pretty, and most warm-blooded males would cut off their right arm to have her hanging on their left. For Robin, however, she was becoming less and less of a real lover... he felt for her as nothing more than a good friend. They really didn't have anything in common.

Unlike Raven...

While not pretty the obvious way Starfire was, Raven had a sense of mystery wrapped around her like that conservative cloak she always hid herself beneath. The cloak couldn't contain the truth, though... Raven was beautiful, at least as much so as Star: just in completely different ways. 'She could understand me,' Robin implicitly understood, 'she is someone I could tell anything, and she'd be able to understand... no matter how harsh the truth.' Robin shook his head. These were not thoughts he could afford to have right now.

Robin looked around, and noticed everyone had left the main room to sleep. He and Star were the only two left. Giving his hand one last, fond touch, Starfire likewise rose to leave, and Robin made his choice. "Star, can I talk to you for a minute?"

* * *

End Chapter 9

* * *

Read and Review!

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

-Another interlude!  
-More music!  
-And that's actually all I'm going to tell you. What will happen? Now taking bets...

Next Episode: Second Interlude: And One


	11. Second Interlude: And One

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Here is the second interlude. It starts immediately following the last episode, which is annoying, but I didn't really have a choice… I couldn't fit this part into the last chapter so I had to do it here. No big deal. I promised you a Rob/Rae, and here is where you're going to start to really get it. Rob/Star was just for plot set up. I said to have a little faith. :-D.

A warning… for a chapter that goes really, really badly for Starfire, I hope it shows that I really don't hate her. I find her inability to speak normally very annoying, but I like her character. So yeah, there's a lot of Starfire in this chapter… I'll make it up to you with Robin and Raven at the end, ok? Ok. On to the story, since half of you won't even read this.

See if you can catch the running gag I seem to have started in the interludes.

**One final note **– This chapter will be about fifty bajillion times better if you can actually hear the song. It was a demo song for Linkin Park, so as far as I know "And One" is legal to download. If you like Linkin Park, you'll like it.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? I also don't own the song And One… that honor goes to Linkin Park. ALSO, I have a feeling the ending of this chapter is inspired by something I read once, but I can't figure out what for the life of me. If you figure it out, please tell me in a review.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 10 – Second Interlude: And One

* * *

"What is it that we require the talking about, friend-Robin?"

Robin hated himself for what he was about to do, but he knew it was for the best. He had a lovely woman in front of him, who was totally dedicated to him to the exclusion of anyone else… and he was going to hurt her very badly. He was here to break Starfire's heart. He couldn't stand what he was about to do, but it would be worse to go on living such a lie, wouldn't it?

"Star…" he paused. How do you say this? How to you break it to a girl who doesn't understand this planet that you just don't like her, can't like her, no matter how endeared she is with you? "I don't think we can go out anymore."

The alien girl stiffened. Whatever she expected from this conversation, this had obviously not been considered. 'I'm so sorry, Star…'

Star's hopeful naiveté made it even worse. "I believe I don't understand your meaning, friend." She looked so hopeful, so scared, and so delicate… and he let out a sigh. Now or never.

"Star… I really appreciate everything we've done in the last months. I enjoyed it, and we had fun. You're an incredible girl, and anyone would be lucky to have you." Robin got up and started pacing in front of the couch, not daring to look at the Tamaranian. "But we just can't keep on doing that. I like you a lot, but the more we do this, the more I like you as a friend, a teammate, and a sister. Not a lover. I'm sorry." Robin finally looked over at Star. Her head was down, and it looked like she was trying not to show how sad she was.

The young alien looked up at him, her eyes glistening with tears she tried not to let down her face. "Why?" she asked, her voice so soft, so innocent and so fragile it seemed a snowflake drifting lost in the storm. That was the one question Robin feared the most, because he couldn't really give her an answer. The only answer he had he could barely accept himself.

"I don't know Star. I don't really understand my own feelings. I just know I can't feel about you the same way you feel about me." He finished lamely, trying not to crack as the tears she so valiantly hid started flowing. 'I'm sorry Star. We just have nothing in common.'

Robin's internal voice had something to say about that. 'Now your just lying to yourself if you seriously say that's the reason. It's not as much that as how much you have in common with someone else, and you KNOW IT,' the voice cursed, punishing him for his cruelty to Star.

His ex-girlfriend stood, nodded, and turned her back. "I… understand." She started to float towards the door, but stopped halfway. "Might we have another chance sometime?"

Robin sighed. He really doubted it, but there wasn't a chance he could tell her that. 'Wouldn't anything else just hurt her more, though? Give her false hope?' He shook his head to clear it, and then spoke as kindly as he could, "Star… I don't know. I wouldn't count on it though." Without turning to look at him, she nodded her once and floated out the door. Robin sat back down on the couch, resting his head in his hands. "So… what now?" He asked to no one in particular.

* * *

Raven woke with a cry, soaked in her own sweat and breathing heavily. 'The damn dream again,' she mentally cursed fate in general and her father in specific, getting out of bed. The clock read 4:14… there was no way she was going back to sleep tonight. She stripped off her clothing and turned on the water in her bath… she needed to clean up. Sweat wasn't the only thing she could feel. Just under her skin, her heritage also lingered hauntingly, and no amount of scrubbing would ever remove it.. 

This same dream had followed her since Trigon had inserted himself into her soul self when he killed Arella. Raven was floating over a blasted city, her four eyes glowing the same red as he cloak. Statues of stone people littered the ground, and the sky was dark and scorched. It was an offer, she knew… a little message from her father of the power she could have if. All she had to do was give up on her humanity. Raven shuddered. 'Never.'

The dream had continued like it always had… the prophecy she now knew had been told at her birth began to echo through the broken streets, softly at first, but the reverberations slowly grew in volume until they formed a devastating roar through her head. Raven shuddered again, despite her best efforts. 'I must not fear. Fear is the mind killer. The ancient prophecy was just one of many possible futures… he can't make me do anything,' she tried to convince herself, but her trembling form could attest she wasn't very successful.

The tub was full now, so she climbed in. In the silence, she could hear the evil words echoing. Using her powers, she reached out and turned the radio on, and on an impulse set it to the same station she had listened to months ago. The station was just in the intro to a song… she'd never heard it before, but recognized the voice as belonging to the singer from Linkin Park. (A/N Not many people who listen to the radio can't ID that voice.)

_Where should I start?  
Disjointed heart  
I've got no commitment  
To my own flesh and blood_

Raven was shocked, and slightly scared. Once was coincidence… twice was the sort of thing BB would create a conspiracy theory about. There was no doubt in her mind that the song was again about her. She sank deeper into the tub as she let the lyrics play out, opening her thoughts to let her hear her emotions.

'Disjoined heart… that certainly sounds like me. Flesh and blood. Could mean my own existence, or my family. Either way, the song is right.' Knowledge chimed in.

_Left all alone  
Far from my home  
No one to hear me, to heal my ill heart, I_

**_Keep it locked up… inside…._**

'Yup, that's me.' She said, ignoring the protests of her emotions. She knew they didn't like being trapped inside her anymore than she liked to be so cold and emotionless all the time, but it was the only way. And she _was_ lonely. She badly wanted someone to understand her… especially if that someone was Robin. Her heart was truly ill, she realized, and not just because she was so emotionless. Robin also was a reason.

_Can I express  
To the point I've regressed?  
If anger's a gift, then I guess I've been blessed, I_

With great effort, Raven managed to tune out anger's menacing laughter as the song spoke. She shuddered despite the warm water flowing over her gray skin.

**Keep it locked up… inside…  
Keep my distance from his lies…**

_Is it too late to love me now?  
You helped me show me...  
It is too late to love me now?  
You don't even know me_

Memories of Robin's visit to her head came to mind with these lyrics. Robin had indeed helped her to express herself: part of why she trusted him so much. The memory of Robin's jaunt in her mind brought brooding on the part of Anger, and excited reflections by Courage and Happiness. They had both liked having him there very much… both were much more capable of admitting how much she liked him than Raven herself was. Timidity hadn't enjoyed having him there all that much, but that was no surprise… she didn't like anything. The new, gold-cloaked emotion that Raven still couldn't identify also joined in the chorus with Happiness and Courage.

_Breaking a part of my heart to find release  
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace  
Breaking apart my heart to find release  
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace..._

_Breaking a part of my heart to find release (LET…)  
Taking you out of my blood to bring me peace (ME…)  
Breaking apart my heart to find release_

_(GO…)_

There was a long instrumental here, giving Raven time to digest the lyrics and what she felt about them. Knowledge immediately picked up on the relation. "Your heart, and emotions, are broken apart Raven. Your meditations insure that." No one needed to explain the next line. They all were thinking about Trigon, and they all knew it. Raven wanted his blood gone from her. He wanted her to let her go. The lyrics came back on, this time a sort of soft rap.

_Spit drips into the jaw, the witless witness  
With the cryptic code, realism shifts the mystic  
Dark all I do embark, through the shadows  
With my thoughts cataloged, analog, rip that along  
Keep my distance, answer with resistance, face with persistence  
Your twisted web of tangled lies strangles my hopes to waste  
And numbs the taste  
And I'm forced to face these hate crimes against  
The state of being feeling_

Raven couldn't believe this. This was a perfect explanation of what she did with her emotions, and why. It summed up her long battle against her father in a brief few rhymes.

_I keep it locked up… inside…  
Keep my distance from your lies…_

_Keep my distance…  
Keep my distance…  
Keep my distance…  
Keep my distance…_

Raven lay in the tub long past when the song had faded into the distance, lost in her thought. Finally, the radio began to annoy her, so she flicked it off. The water in the tub was getting cold… she must have been in there far longer than she would have guessed. She rose, toweled dry, and dressed. The song still running through her head, she went to eat. "How sad is it that a song understands me better than any of my teammates?

* * *

When Raven entered the main room, she saw Robin sitting on the couch, staring into space. 'How long has he been there?' she thought. "Robin?" 

Her soft, hauntingly beautiful voice reached the boy wonder, and he turned on the couch. The leader had dark rings under his eyes, telling her clearly he had not slept. "Oh… good morning Raven. You're up early."

"You're up late. What's wrong?"

Robin moved over on the couch, leaving room for Raven to sit. Before she could think about it, she did. "I felt like there was a battle raging in my head. It wouldn't have let me sleep if I tried."

Raven had come to terms with that she liked Robin, but she had resigned herself to only being his friend. If he could just be someone to understand her, that would be enough. Hearing this from her friend, she couldn't help but be concerned. "What happened?"

"I had to explain to Star why I couldn't go out with each other anymore."

The empath's world froze instantly when he said that. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She had to be sure. "Could you repeat that?" she said in her usual, perfectly disinterested monotone, "What do you mean?" Mentally, she crossed her fingers.

"I'm not going out with Starfire anymore. She took it kind of hard." Robin's face tightened as he relived the conversation. He thought he'd rather go back and fight Slade all over than have that conversation _ever_ again.

Raven didn't know what to think. She shouldn't be so joyful for her friend's suffering, but this presented her with a hope she had all but given up on: the opportunity to be something to Robin. "Why not? Can't you go out with her anymore, I mean."

Robin didn't even hesitate. He trusted Raven as much as she did him. "We just have nothing in common. She's so fragile, so delicate… she could never understand my world. I could never really share my life with her." 'Unlike you,' he mentally added, cursing his inability to say anything to her. If he trusted her so much, why was this so difficult?

'Unlike me,' Raven mentally added, cursing her inability to say anything to him. If she trusted him so much, why was this so difficult? 'Robin, we have far more in common than either of us would ever want to admit.

With Raven, Robin would be able to discuss anything, without fears of breaking one of the naive Starfire's pleasant illusions about the world… he could speak the truth at all times, knowing that no matter how unpleasant the truth, Raven would be able to deal with it.

The two Titans held an awkward silence between them for minutes as they each looked at the other. To both, it was obvious that the other wanted to say something, but neither could muster up the courage. Both also had a feeling that they both wanted to make the same confession to the other, but neither could make themselves believe that feeling, calling it wishful thinking. Raven couldn't help but feel the irony. Half an hour ago she had been listening to a song that she had agreed with wholeheartedly, telling her that she couldn't allow herself to feel… yet here she was, wanting to tell Robin exactly how much feeling he made her do. 'What is it about Robin that makes me want to throw out everything I've always been?'

Finally, Robin broke the silence because he couldn't stand the tension anymore. "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

Raven blinked. She didn't expect that. "I was trained on Azarath since I was young, along with the arcane arts."

"I suppose what I'm really asking then is why would you take all the time to learn how to fight when you have powers like yours. I had to learn, because I have no powers of my own. Learning hand to hand combat is the best way for me to fight crime. Why would someone with as much power as you need to know how?"

"Have you ever heard of the Buddhist monks that live in China, Tibet, and India?"

"Huh?" Robin was confused. She had just made a giant logic leap… he didn't understand where she was going with this one bit. To him, she had just jumped from point A to point G without hitting any of the letters in between, and he didn't get what she was saying. "Uh, sort of, but I don't see…"

Raven cut him off. "How about the Shaolin monks? They're a very famous group from China."

Robin still didn't get it, but he had heard of that group. "The ones that shave their heads everyday?"

"Yeah, them. Why would a group of people who's only goal is spiritual enlightenment be taught martial arts almost from the day of birth?" Raven saw in Robin's eyes that it had clicked with him where she was going, so she continued. "Control of the mind and control of the body are very linked."

"Ah. I never really thought about it that way. It makes sense." The two Titans again fell into a silence, but this one was nowhere near as uncomfortable as the one preceding it. The pair started to edge closer to each other, almost unnoticeably. Emotions started running rampant in Raven's head, but she noticed nothing breaking, so she didn't care too much. Outside of the tower, the sun began its long arc into the sky, and sunlight streamed into the darkened lounge. Raven didn't have her hood up, so the light caught her across her open face and lit up her features. 'My god, she's beautiful.' Robin would have shaken his head to clear it, but he never got a chance.

Cyborg walked in, yelling about waffles, then he stopped dead when he noticed the two on the couch… and it was floating. Somewhere in the middle of that, Raven's emotions had started to levitate the couch without either noticing. Robin was quick to cover for the both of them. "A little more to the left, Raven," He said, "A little more… ah, forget it. Just put it back where it was." Raven let the couch down and got off it along with Robin, meeting Cyborg's questioning stare. "Just doing a little redecorating," he explained. Cyborg shrugged, then turned back to making breakfast with a 'Who, me? I didn't see nothin!' expression on his face. The two Teens plopped back down on opposite sides of the couch and sighed at the precise same time. 'Back to business as usual,' each thought, and the walls of privacy and secrecy went back up between them.

But they were not as high as they had been. Not nearly as high.

* * *

End Chapter 10

* * *

A/N – How do you like that, fellow Rae/Rob fans? All I have to say is "so it begins." There is a little blue button just too the left of the text your reading right now. It says "review." Press it. Thanks a lot, I want any opinions I can get.

As for the song… my god. That's Raven's theme song, isn't it? I made a CD the other day that's basically a soundtrack for this fic, and it was a ton of fun.

That said, lets hear it for fan service! Raven in the tub? What? You couldn't see it? Heh, sucks for you. Yes, to be honest, I DO get a kick from fitting the commercial break's into the story.

Next time on Teen Titans – Fragile Dreams:

-Starfire gets sent to the future  
-I write an episode from Star's viewpoint?  
-I write an episode from only **one** viewpoint?  
-Is that... allowed?

Next Episode: How Long is Forever?


	12. How Long is Forever?

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N This is my first real experiment with a perspective other than that of Rae or Robin. Hope it turns out ok. This chapter will probably worry the hell out of some of you. If you think Star didn't like the future last time, just wait till you see THIS future. For obvious reasons, there is a LOT of Starfire in this one and precious little Robin and Rae. Sorry about that… had to happen. I promise there will be quite a few surprises you don't see coming to make up for it.

**This one is going to be pretty dark in tone... Much darker than anything else I've written so far.  
**

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 11 – How Long is Forever?

* * *

"Happy Blorthog!" Starfire exclaimed as she burst into the Titan's sitting area a week later. She was still torn up inside by her rejection by Robin, but outwardly she had shrugged it off with typical Starfire cheerfulness. It was a good tiding that today was Blorthog, the Tamaranian festival of friendship. It would help remind her that she still had friend Robin, even if only as a friend.

The Titans completely ignored the Tamaranian, going on with their normal routine. Friend Cy and friend BB were playing some video game, yelling at each other. Friend Raven was sitting off to the side of the room, where it was least noisy, and trying to read a book. She had a pair of nail clippers levitating by her. Lastly, friend Robin was sitting at the table, blasting some heavy metal music on his stereo.

Using her typical cheerfulness again, Starfire wasn't discouraged at all by being ignored. She grabbed a handful of the necklaces, and walked over to the couch where friend Cyborg had just managed to grab the controller away from friend Beast Boy. "Friend Cyborg! I bid you glorious tidings to our friendship on this…"

Star cut off as the metal man cried out and went flying, an octopus tentacle wrapped around him. "You're going to pay for that you little grass-stain!" The green changeling reclaimed the controller, and started laughing as he played.

"Friend Beast Boy!" Starfire began, holding out a necklace to him, "Happiness and greetings for you on this joyful Blor-."

"Cyborg, I'll give you back the controller as soon as _Raven_ over there returns my clippers!"

Raven didn't even look up from her book. "Not a chance."

Starfire's face fell a little, but she quickly perked up and walked towards the team's darkest member. "Friend Raven!" she said, again offering a necklace, "Today is the Blorthog, Tamaranian celebration of happiness and friendshi-" Starfire cut herself off and she saw a vein pop out on friend Raven's forehead.

"Hey, Robin," she said in a voice laden with sarcasm, "Could your music be any louder? I can still hear myself think."

Star walked over to Robin and held out a necklace, but didn't even get to say anything before she was again cut off, this time by Robin, as he turned to the fighting teens. "I only have the music so loud to **drown out all the YELLING!**"

Poor Starfire stood in the middle of her arguing friends, her placating words and offers of friendship going unheard. Cyborg threw BB over the couch to reclaim his controller, and his leg caught on her necklaces as he landed. As he struggled to his feet, the cord binding them together snapped, and little beads from the necklace were strewn all over the living room. Starfire's plight went unnoticed by the rest of the Titans, who kept on yelling and fighting, until Star had had enough. "STOP IT!" All action in the room instantly ceased, and all eyes went to the usually chipper red head that had just yelled at them. "Friends must not act this way. Especially on Blorthog… do you wish to invite the Raknar?"

BB was the first to recover. "Um… the what?"

Star's eyes closed in memory as she spoke. "On my planet Raknar means 'the drifting,' in which close friends slowly drift away from each other until there is nothing left."

"Dude, we are so not… whatevering."

"Yeah Star, this is just typical roommate behavior. Sometimes, people get on other people's nerves. It's natural." Cyborg said, looking apologetically at the beads littering the floor. "Don't worry, nothing will happen."

As if Cyborg's words were an omen, the alarm suddenly sounded, bathing the room in flashing red lights. "Titans, trouble!" Robin said, grabbing his birdarang as he ran for the door. The rest of the Titans but Starfire quickly followed. Star closed her eyes and dolefully inclined her head towards the ground for a few seconds before following.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and despite her optimistic attitude, Starfire was wondering if this could have gone any worse for the team. The Titans had gotten whooped badly by this new villain who claimed to be from the future, calling himself Warp. As unlikely as his claim of origin seemed, he had the gizmos to back up it up. He carried the clock he had come for in his hands, and was preparing to make good his escape despite the Titan's best efforts to stop him. Starfire decided she was not going to let him get away with this so easily. "See you in the future, Titans!" Warp said, opening a gateway from a shining orb on the chest of his suit. 

"No!" Starfire yelled, flying towards the villain and knocking him forward into the gateway, with herself following him in. With the source of the portal gone, it quickly closed, sealing her and Warp tumbling awkwardly through a bright tunnel. The combatants wrestled for the clock as they flew, and Star managed to hit the orb on his chest as they fought, and it detached in the form of a little disk, falling neatly into her hands.

"My regulator!" He yelled, and suddenly the two were torn apart by gut-wrenching centrifugal force. The tunnel vanished, and Starfire suddenly found herself back in a city… but no city she recognized. The buildings were grimy and ill maintained, and the air was polluted and smoggy.

'Where am I?' she thought to herself as she looked around, noticing vaguely that she was holding both the clock and Warp's regulator. Star found a view over the ocean behind her, but her blood ran cold at what else she could see. Staring back at her from the middle of a tiny, god-forsaken island, were the decrepit remains of what was once her home.

Titan Tower. She was in Bludhaven. Somehow, she was in her home. 'Yet this is _not_ my home,' she forcefully reminded herself. 'Where am I?' The confused alien lifted up and soared towards the remains of the tower.

The massive door was open and ajar. "Friends?" Starfire yelled out. "It is I, Starfire. I wish to know you are here!" She walked around aimlessly until she reached the sitting room. "Friends?"

The room was abandoned. Lots of machinery, resembling generators, was laying all over the room. Looking around, there were little tarnished silver globes scattered across the floor... parts of the necklaces she had offered her friends. Star saw a glowing red light turn on in the darkness by where the kitchen was, and it reminded her of Cyborg's eye. "Friend Cyborg?" she asked as the light started coming closer. "Is that you?" As she peered forward, the source of the object became clear: a robotic spider. "Eiiiee!" Starfire screamed, her eyes going green as she jumped into the air and floated backwards. Her hands glowed as blasts of hard light blew the machine apart.

More lights started glowing as more machines activated, and Star moved to attack until a voice came from the hallway. "Hey!" the familiar voice called out, "Who's all up in my tower and busting all of my... _Starfire?_" Cyborg stopped dead as he walked through the door and saw his old friend standing there.

He looked different. The first thing she noticed about Cyborg was that his usually shining blue circuitry was dark and inactive. She walked close to her stunned teammate, and ran her hand tenderly along the wrinkled skin of the human part of his face. "Cyborg, my friend. I am confused. Why are you in disrepair? What has become of our home? Why have you aged? Where are our friends?" She asked, growing more frantic and emotional with every question.

Cyborg turned, facing towards the window, and gave a sad little laugh. "That's what happens when you go away for twenty years, Star."

"**What?**" she asked, unable to believe her ears.

"You disappeared, Starfire. After that fight with warp, we couldn't find you." He told her, still looking out the window. "The Titans broke up soon after, Star. Your friends aren't friends anymore."

Starfire floated up, her eyes burning with righteous fury. "This cannot be our future!" She yelled, her hands clenching into fists. "Warp's interference has changed it! We must find him and make it right!"

Cyborg finally turned to look at her again, and Star finally noticed a series of black cables emerging from his back. "I wish I could help, but my systems broke down years ago." He told her with a wry smile, but his eyes expressed his extreme depression. "I can't leave the tower, Star. I'm obsolete… helpless."

Star just stared at him a moment, trying to sort out this puzzle in front of her. "Our other friends. Where are they?"

"No one acts as a hero anymore. Garfield works for a circus now. And Richard is the president of the city's branch of Wayne Enterprises. He won't be much help, though."

"Why will he not, friend? Friend Robin would never let down his friends, would he?"

"He did the whole solo hero thing for a while after the Titans broke up,"he answered, "but he stopped after... well, you'll find out. It's not my story to tell. He hasn't picked up his costume since." Cyborg visibly shuddered, his human eye becoming filled with sorrow as he relived memories he'd obviously rather not have. He turned and practically ran out of the room, leaving Starfire to stare after him.

'But what about friend Raven?'

* * *

Star watched as these two punks laughed at her green friend before landing. "No way," he whispered as he looked on at the red haired ghost from the past. The years had not been kind to Garfield. He was terribly out of shape, and the former Titan had lost much of his hair... he was balding early. He sat in his cage, resting on the floor. 

"Friend Beast Boy! It is good to see you again! Allow me to free you from..."

"No!" Beast Boy yelled, waving his arms franticly. "Don't! This cage isn't to keep me in, Star. It's to keep all of _them_ out." He turned away from the alien girl, gazing off to the side and giving Star a profile of his face. "Listen to me, Star," he said, his face turning sorrowful, "After the Titans broke up, I tried the whole solo hero thing. Pretty much got my butt kicked. Then, after what happened to Robin... well, lets just say I realized being a hero wasn't all it was cracked up to be."

Star's face fell. "But this doesn't have to be our future. Please help me fix our past to restore our rightful future!"

"I'm sorry, Star. I can't help you. Not who I am anymore." He started to walk away towards the private area of the cage.

"What about Raven? Where is she?"

BB turned back to her, eyes blazing with anger. "With any justice, she'll be burning in hell with her dear father. Now get out of here. And if you see Robin, I wouldn't mention her. Good luck." Without a further word, BB stepped into the private area of his trailer cage and was gone.

Star was shocked at her friend's response. 'Friend Beast Boy was always humorous and kind... why is he now this cold to me?" She wondered darkly as she flew off towards where friend Cyborg had told her Robin lived. "What could have happened to him to turn him so bitter?"

* * *

An hour later, Starfire was wandering the streets, brooding uncharacteristically and cursing the world in general and Warp in particular. He had screwed up her world something fierce. Friend Robin, friend **_Robin,_** was not happy to see her. Much like Beast Boy, he was very cold: he addressed her with a lack of emotion that made it seem like he was challenging friend Raven to a contest of emotionless and expected to win. After denying that it was his job to help, he simply told her to leave. No friendship, no fond recollections; absolutely nothing - Purely emotionless. As soon as Starfire left his office, she heard sobbing behind her. Apparently, he was also haunted by something. 

Starfire was not stupid. Nor was she as naive as she sometimes came off as: she realized that whatever it was that had changed everything in this world, it had been Raven. The missing Titan was the key to everything. Beast Boy hated her, Cyborg didn't want to talk about her, and Robin refused to talk to anyone who might even _remind_ him of her. 'Warp is to blame for all of this,' she thought and she meandered through the broken streets of Bloodhaven. 'Whatever had happened to friend Raven, he is the cause of this changed future.'

So lost in her thought was she, Starfire didn't realize she was in danger until it was too late. A red blast hit her from the side, and as she rolled to a stop she saw Warp emerge from an alleyway. Her eyes glowing green with rage, Starfire rose to meet him, but she was as hopelessly outmatched as she had been 20 years ago. Her Starbolts bounced harmlessly of his force field, as he countered with blasts of red energy from cannons mounted on his shoulders. 'Why is he after me?' Star thought, then she looked down. Belated, she realized she was still carrying both the clock Warp had stolen and the disk from his chest – the vortex regulator.

Starfire dodged left and right as she threw destructive blasts of green light at the villain, but nothing seemed to affect him… and she couldn't dodge forever. A ray of energy impacted against her, and she went sprawling to the ground. She looked up, and saw the gold-clad villain standing over her. She looked into his face…

"You have also become old…"

Warp's expression showed infinite sadness and frustration for a moment, but his calm, arrogant demeanor quickly covered the storm. "That's what happens when someone takes my regulator. Return it, please."

Starfire bolted to her feet, holding the regulator in one hand and powering up a Starbolt in the other. "If you ever want to return to your future, you will repair the damage you have done to our past!"

The time traveler had to laugh. "Silly girl," he said in a condescending voice as he picked the clock up from the ground, "Your future is not broken. You cannot break history, because history cannot be changed. I went back to steal this clock because history said it disappeared, and history said it disappeared because I went back to steal it. Past, Present, and Future… it's all written in stone my dear, unchangeable for all eternity. By _anyone_." He held out his hand. "My regulator, please." He instructed, and a disheartened Starfire complied. He slapped the component back into place on his suit, and smiled. "Thank you, my dear." He pointed one of his laser cannons at Star, and it glowed as energy began to power up. "Now it's time for you to become history."

As the villain laughed maniacally as his own joke, the kneeling Starfire caught a flash of movement in the corner of her eye. Warp suddenly staggered from a heavy impact to the back of his head. Starfire looked on in amazement as more objects, looking like rocks or pieces of pavement, went flying towards Warp at blinding speeds. It reminded her of Raven, but there was no black aura. After a few more painful impacts, he managed to raise his protective shield and the objects stopped flying. As the villain scanned around for more danger, the ground itself suddenly leapt up at him from under his feat, ripping through the pavement and wrapping itself around him from inside his protective shield. "Leave her alone." A warm but calm and calculating female voice instructed, and Raven turned to the alley Warm had emerged from a few minutes ago. Two eyes blazed like miniature suns in the darkness.

Warp quickly pressed a few button on his wrist and began to disappear into the ground. "Another time, perhaps," He said, and then was gone.

A blond woman appearing to be in her mid thirties walked out of the shadows. The shine in her eyes quickly faded to show deep blue corneas, still practically glowing with a youthful innocence that Starfire found refreshing. Nobody she had met since coming to this time, not even the general population, had any trace of innocence left that she could see. She was happy that it could still exist. She had long blond hair draped over her eyes, and wore a pair of shorts with a black shirt. Starfire didn't recognize her at all… she hadn't a clue who it could be.

Starfire's hands and eyes resume their green glow as the unknown person walked closer. "Calm down, I'm a friend." Her mysterious savior brushed some of her blond hair out of her eyes, and continued to speak in a happy, friendly voice. "You must be Starfire. Girl who was sent to the future twenty years ago, right?"

Star didn't know what to say. "Friend, how do you know who I am? Who are you?"

The mystery girl gave her a little smile. "You don't know me, but I've heard everything about Titan Koriand'r del Tamaran." The blond gave a little bow before continuing. "I suppose pseudonyms and formalities make little sense in a world where the Titans no longer exist. I would be honored if you would call me Tara. It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

* * *

End Chapter 11

* * *

A/N

I bet you didn't see that coming, did you? C'mon, be honest. You knew I would have someone other than Nightwing be the one to help Star, but you didn't expect it to be **her**! Did you? Well, perhaps Mysti did and just wanted to spare my ego by missing a guess.

C'mon, you know your wondering why this future is so screwed up and what the hell Raven did to make everyone hate her. The next chapter holds the answers you seek, as Tara tells Starfire the tale that the other Titans wouldn't. The riddle for this chapter ought to be obvious: What happened to Rae?

Lastly, sorry to anyone expecting some real Nightwing/Rae going on in this ep, but you shoulda seen it coming. It doesn't match the tone at all.

Next time on Teen Titans, Fragile Dreams:

-Tara tells Starfire the story of the last twenty years  
-The Titans get one last hurrah.  
-Richard Grayson has a message for Starfire. Or does he?

Next Episode: Only Impossible


	13. Only Impossible

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N - For whomever it was who asked; yes, Tara Markov is Terra's real name. I think I'm doing a terrible job of writing Starfire's dialect, so please forgive me. I just hope I'm keeping her in character. Anyway, the darkness from the last chapter continues here. This chapter is equally ominous, if not more so.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 12 – Only Impossible

* * *

Starfire looked around in awe. For a cave in the middle of the desert, she never would have predicted it would hold a quarter of the gadgets it had. Terra's home was cooled, and had computer facilities to rival the best Titan Tower could have offered. All the systems were meticulously maintained, and every system was running.

Starfire stopped her gawking and turned to face the woman behind her. She looked to be around 35, approaching middle age, but retaining all the beauty of youth. "So this is where friend Tara lives?"

Tara's blue eyes looked back at Star. "Yeah, you could say that. I'm pretty much the only protector of this city left. As you can see, it's a little too big a job to do alone, and I can only do so much." She looked to the ground sadly. "I won't mince words. I failed to protect Bloodhaven. I couldn't do it."

Starfire's fists clenched with anger as she spun back to the wall of computers. She walked over to a map of the city displayed on one screen. "This is to be our future?" She said, disheartened, in impotent fury.

"It's ok, Star. We'll get you back to your own time, and then this future will never happen. Warp's interference in the timeline will be undone." Tara told her, her soft eyes meeting Star's green ones.

Starfire's rage disappeared to be replaced with resignation. "It is not possible," she told her savior. "History cannot be mended, for history is not broken. It cannot be changed."

Tara's eyes twinkled. "So your telling me it's impossible?" Starfire nodded. "Well, that's a relief."

Starfire head unbowed, and she looked back up with confusion and a little touch of hope. "I do not understand you, friend…"

"Richard once told me that it was the job of the Titans to do the impossible." She said, wrapping her long hair around two fingers as she typed furiously with her other hand. "We'll consider this the last action of the Titans."

'Richard…' Starfire thought. "Friend Robin… what happened to him? What did friend Raven do?"

Starfire's new friend stopped typing, but still looked at the screen for a moment to recover. Tara turned back to the Tamaranian, and Star could see small tears in her eyes. "It's a long story Starfire. You had better sit down." The heroin raised her hands, and a small pillar of stone came up from the floor. Starfire sat, and prepared to hear the story.

"After you disappeared, the Titans quickly fell apart. Your vanishing act destroyed the feeling of invulnerability the team had developed. Once Warp gave them a startling reminder of their own mortality, petty differences and arguments quickly escalated until the team started to fracture under it's own weight."

"I joined the Titans shortly after you disappeared. I saw what was happening and so did Beast Boy, but we couldn't do anything to stop it. Robin and Cyborg stopped being able to stand each other, and they broke up the Titans. Cyborg stayed in the tower, and Robin left. When he left, Raven went with him. Beast Boy and I also went off together also. We had a relationship for a while, but…" Terra paused to wipe a tear from her face. "Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself."

"Robin and Raven lead the protection of Bludhaven for the next few years. They pair grew closer together, and they finally married three years after you disappeared." Starfire couldn't believe a word she was hearing, but didn't interrupt, and let Tara's story continue. "They were the ultimate team… No one could stop them. The pair forced Slade to flee the city, and for a while, Bludhaven was one of the safest cities in the world."

"Then **_he_** came."

Tara's voice broke as she finished that sentence, and she paused for a moment in a struggle to keep her composure. Starfire noted that, like everyone else she had met, this was a traumatic memory for her. Tara regained her voice, and continued. "Raven wasn't completely human, it turns out. She was the half demon offspring of Trigon."

Starfire's eyes widened at this declaration. Like anyone who knew about the state of being in the galaxy, she had heard of Trigon the Destroyer. The Lord of Hatred was one of the most evil and most powerful demons The universe had ever known. So far, he was bond to his own dimension, but only the constant attentions of the Justice League and Green Lantern Corps. had managed to keep him from finding a way to Earth.

"Details are unclear because no one ever managed to ask Raven about it, but it seems that daddy's little girl fled from him in her youth to Earth, looking for help fighting him. When she turned 20, Trigon finally found her, and apparently wanted to rule with his daughter at his side."

"Somehow, Trigon corrupted Raven completely from the inside," Tara continued. "The girl's emotions were always unstable… Trigon's corruption tore them apart and set them loose on the world. Raven turned on her former friends and became a servant of her father. She fought all of us… and Richard had to kill her."

"Friend Robin _killed_ friend Raven?"

Tara's composure snapped, and she started crying freely. "Starfire, he didn't have a choice! She was too powerful to stop, even with the five remaining Titans trying. She was ripping the dimension apart with her powers, looking for a hole to let Trigon in. He had to. HE HAD TO!" She started sobbing harder, losing control of her voice. It was a few minutes before she finally recovered it. "He had to… she said softly.

Starfire was also crying, but trying valiantly to stay in control. "What happened after that?"

"Richard was haunted by being forced to kill the woman he loved. The other former Titans tried to help him, but he grew more distant from everyone with each passing day." Tara turned back to the computer screen, and resumed typing as she spoke. "Beast Boy didn't do much better. He grew bitter with Raven's betrayal. He always considered her a friend, and when she turned on him he took it harder than anyone would have guessed. It changed him, Star. After that, we sort of had a bad breakup. He hasn't spoken to me since." Tara tried very hard to hide the tears now streaming down her cheeks, but Star could still see them. Displaying an unusual amount of tact, she didn't call them to attention.

Star was lost in her own thoughts. 'Friends Robin and Raven… together?' This could not be so. Even more incredible was the story of Raven's fall and the final battle against her. 'If I were in friend Robin's place, would I have been able to do that?' Starfire doubted it, and she wasn't sure how that should make her feel. Her eyes reopened as a thought occurred to her. "Friend Tara… if the bad Raven was so mighty, how was Robin able to kill her?"

Tara froze again, visibly trying to contain her memories, before she continued typing. "That's the real question, isn't it? She didn't try to stop him. She essentially committed suicide."

Starfire was confused. "But if enough of our Raven was left to help us destroy her…"

"We know, Star. _That_ is what haunts Richard, what keeps him up at night. _That_ is why Cyborg doesn't want to even try to leave his tower and face the world. _That_ is why BB has given up on the world, locking himself away from it. We're all tortured by the thought that somehow, there might have been another way. Somehow, we could have saved her." Tara paused, wiping her arm across her face. "Star, right before she died, the red in her eyes faded and they returned to normal… and she smiled at us. Our final memory of Raven isn't one of an enemy: It's one of a friend. A friend that _we_ killed, that _we_ couldn't save." Terra blinked twice, forcing the tears from her eyes. "And **that** is why I'll do anything to change the past and fix this future: Because I can't even stand to think that this is the way it needs to be." She turned to look at Starfire again, and for the first time, Star could see that the innocence in her eyes was forced. She projected that attitude of childlike, carefree happiness so she wouldn't have to think about how dark her world had become with the loss of Raven and Beast Boy. She had been affected as negatively as any of the others; she just put on a mask and refused to face it.

"Friend Tara… you truly loved him, did you not?"

Tara knew exactly what she was talking about without asking. "Yes. I did. As much as Robin and Raven were meant for each other, we were as well." The computer beeped, and Tara turned back to it. "Looks like I've found Warp. He's in the Wayne Enterprises Scientific Research Division, Eastern Bludhaven."

"But we cannot take the man alone."

"No, we can't." Tara held out a small, black device, which Starfire recognized instantly. "Would you like the honors?"

Starfire reached out, took the communicator, and recorded a small message into it. "Friends, this does not have to be our future. We do not need to separate, evil does not need to triumph, and our friend Raven does _not need to perish_. It was once the job of people such as we to do the impossible: I ask of you to accomplish the impossible one last time. Soon, Warp will escape to the future, and destiny will be sealed. This is not the way it should be. Please, help me… friends." Starfire triggered the device, and smiled as the copy on her own uniform began to pulse red and beep.

* * *

Garfield Logan never thought he'd hear that sound again. The pulsing noise continued as the balding Titan located his blinking communicator. Starfire's message played, and Changeling wept for the first time in years.

* * *

Victor Stone was kneeling, working on some piece of machinery, when his communicator started flashing. At first he ignored it, but when he heard Starfire's message, he couldn't pay it no mind for any longer. He started to head for the counter it was on, but the cable attaching him to his generator went taunt before he reached it. Cyborg growled, and pulled sharply on the chord, ripping it from his back.

* * *

Richard Grayson was writing up a proposal for Bruce when he heard a soft pulsing noise, followed by another just slightly out of sync. It was coming from behind the wall. A look of dread crossed his face, but he held back his tears. He pressed a button under the desk, and a panel on the wall popped open, beckoning Richard forward as he walked into his old command room. 

Two of the old Teen Titan communicators lay blinking by the computer. As he stood listening to them beep, Starfire's voice started playing. 'Raven does _not have to die._' Raven. Reluctantly, Richard looked over at where a faded cloak hung on the wall. Despite himself, he had always kept it even if he was afraid to ever look at it. 'Raven does not have to die. Raven does not have to die. Raven does not have to die…' It echoed in his head over and over, until he had to cup his hands over his hears to try and stop the dangerously loud echoes.

Almost unwillingly, Nightwing turned his head looked over at his suit, still hanging next to Raven's cloak.

* * *

Starfire and Tara burst into the science building, startling Warp as he worked on his regulator. "Sorry hon, but your time has just run out." Tara taunted, her eyes glowing gold as rocks went flying for the time traveler. 

"You are beginning to annoy me now." Warp said, again raising his force field. The blond hero was waiting for this, and ripped the ground up from under him again. Warp redirected the force field to keep it from overloading, and Starfire struck. Warp recoiled in the explosion of energy as a green bolt blew one of his cannons right off. Warp gave a disgusted sigh. "You must insist on being a pain, mustn't you?" The villain threw disks that exploding in flashes. While the two heroines were forced to look away, Warp blew up one of the steel girders over them.

Starfire went down under the weight of the beams. "STAR!" Tara yelled, and raised her hands to call on the powers of the earth to clear away the debris, but caught a red energy blast soon after and went down as well.

"Silly girls." Warp turned back to where his table was, only to catch a sonic blast to his back and go flying. The two Titans looked back at the doorway they had entered through to see Cyborg standing there, his circuitry glowing with a full charge. He lowered his smoking cannon, blowing away the smoke from the top.

"Boo yah…" he whispered. He lowered his human hand and helped Tara and Starfire up. "Hello, Tara."

"Victor." She said, her eyes still blazing. "Nice to see you've finally decided to leave your generators behind and actually use a power cell."

Cyborg's human eye widened, "You knew?"

"Always did," she replied, smiling as she turned back to where Warp was getting back to his feet.

"So sorry… perhaps I should finish you first." Warp rose up to a combat position just in time to be hit from behind by a green blur as Changeling entered the fight. A tiger slashed him across the chest twice before he managed to raise his shield again, and then threw a disk at him that encased his attacker in a field of energy.

Tara lost it, her eyes and hands pulsing with golden energy. "Get _Away_ From Him!" she screamed, biting out each word like a complete sentence. Her hair swirled about her face as if blown by a strong wind. The entire ground of the building started to rip free from its foundation, as Tara called on all the earth nearby the attack the force fields containing Changeling and protecting the time traveler. Both shields quickly overloaded, and the Titans charged.

Before they could reach him, the dark figure of Nightwing attacked from the shadows. Warp was backpedaling under heavy blows almost before he knew what was going on. Starfire looked on with a sort of mild amazement… this was the Robin she knew, only with what looked like 20 years more experience and training. He didn't fight like someone rusty from avoiding his talents for close to 15 years – he fought like a god of war who had nothing left to lose. Warp didn't stand a chance against the five Titans, and he knew it. "Perhaps we should continue this elsewhere?" he yelled, grabbing his regulator off the table and pointing his blaster to the roof. He blew a huge hole, and then boosters in his boots lit up and he soared out the window.

"Give to him the persuit, friends!" Starfire yelled, and made ready to fly after him. Nightwing grabbed onto her, and she held him around the waist as she took wing. Changeling turned into a pterodactyl and grabbed Cyborg, following Starfire out the door. Tara levitated a large chunk of rock from under her and followed her fellow Titans through the roof. The team pursued Warp all the way across Bloodhaven, flying at a breakneck pace. When he finally started to descend, Nightwing stiffened in her grasp. Before she could ask what was wrong, she was landing. Starfire let Nightwing go and looked around for Warp. Despite arrive just a moment before they had, he had disappeared. "Robin, where are we?"

He looked at her, hisface so obviously full of emotion that the mask couldn't completely contain it. "I should know," he said, staring to the left and slightly down. "I come here everyday. Bloodhaven Military Cemetery."

Starfire followed his gaze to a small stone with a trapezoidal slab on the bottom, even as every other Titan landed around her. There were flowers,very fresh, laying on the slab… Black orchids, as rare as they were expensive. The flowers partially obscured the words on the gravestone, but Star didn't need to really read them to know what the stone said. It read:

Here lies Raven Grayson  
(1989-2009)  
Teen Titan  
_the softly spoken words you gave me  
even in death our love goes on  
and i can't love you  
anymore than i do…_

Richard was barely managing to keep himself from crying, and now Star knew why. 'How _dare_ the Warp take friend Robin here,' she thought, 'Has he not felt enough pain for this life?' The other Titans, one by one, locked their eyes on the tombstone. No one spoke: everyone was left alone with his or her thoughts. To complete the desolate scene, rain started to fall.

"Touching, isn't it," Warp's arrogant voice called out from somewhere in the darkness. "Your fallen teammate. How very appropriate that this will be the final resting place of the Teen Titans." With those final words, Warp flung handfuls on tiny grenades all over, and the Titans scattered with precise movents as they trackedthe attacks to the source and countered. Flashes of green and yellow lit up the night as Starfire and Taraunleashed their fury on this presumptuous thief. The reason for Warp choosing this battlefield was obvious: Richard and Garfield were frozen, lost in memory. However, this area's increased access to the Earth more made up fortheir absence as Tara attacked Warp with all the fury Raven could have offered him. Despite his many tricks, Warp was severely outmatched by the furious Titans, and he knew it.

Warp touched his chest, and a gateway opened up. He hefted the clock from the ground, holding it in his left hand. "I'm off to enjoy my future, Titans." Nightwing, however, wasn't about to let this sadistic criminal escape. In a grim parody of his last attempt to stop Warp's escape to another time twenty years ago, Richard finally unfroze himself and threw one of his birdarangs at Warp. The time traveling thief countered with a futuristic disk of his own. This time however, it was Nightwing's weapon which proved triumphant, and it impacted against Warp's chest with a shattering sound. The regulatorhad cracked. "No… NO!" Warp screamed, as he began to shrink. "This can't happen to me! This can't…" his voice, which had been getting higher and higher pitched as he spoke, finally cut off into silence. Cyborg pried the chest plate off of his armor to reveal a baby inside… Warp.

"The portal is closing!" Changeling yelled, and Cyborg wasted no time taking the damaged regulator from the armor and affixing it to his arm cannon. A quick reprogramming job, and he fired it into the gateway, keeping it open.

"It's set to return you to your own time, Star. Time for us to say good bye." Cyborg said as he gave her a little smile.

Starfire looked around for Nightwing, but couldn't see him. She did, however, see Changeling and Tara awkwardly looking at each other. "Gar." Tara said, her voice almost cracking.

Garfield wasn't in much better shape. "Tara…" After he spoke, the two stared at each other for a few seconds longer, then stepped closer and fell into a warm embrace… the kind shared by two lovers who had been apart far too long.

"Starfire." Nightwing's voice called out from behind her, and she turned. The pair stood, looking into each other's face, for several long seconds. Neither knew what to say to the other. Finally, Nightwing removed his mask, and he was just Richard again. "I need to ask a favor of you, Star."

"You wish me to carry a warning into the past for you?" Starfire asked. It was the obvious choice, but it made her uncomfortable and filled her with dread. She did not want to denounce her friend Raven. To her surprise and vague relief, he shook his head no.

"No Star. I want to ask you specifically to not to."

Starfire, although relieved, was very confused. "I do not understand, friend. Is not what happened in this time preventable with warning?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not. I do not believe Warp was right, and the future can never be changed. Perhaps it is Raven's destiny to serve her father, and perhaps destiny doesn't exist. It doesn't matter." He paused as he collected his thoughts, and tried to put them into words. "Star, before Raven died, she showed me her eyes one last time. I saw in them everything she'd ever felt for me. If you had asked me when we met earlier today if I wanted a warning in the past, I would have said yes. I would have been wrong. I realize now that even with all the pain and suffering, every hurt I had to take… if I could do it all again, I would still love her the same way."

Starfire's heart fell a little with those words, but she found herself more accepting of them than she would have thought. "So, you feel that friend Raven and yourself truly were made for one another?"

"Yes, Star. I'm sorry."

"It is… expected." She said, and she was only half lying. Turning away, she headed for the portal clutching the clock, and with one last gaze back at her friends she disappeared back to her past. Nightwing's last words floated through the portal at her.

"Just don't give up on her…"

Starfire materialized mere seconds after she had vanished, still in the museum and still clutching the clock. The Titans all looked towards her and stared, but she was lost in her own thoughts as the fact that she had the clock registered. She stared down at it as though it were the greatest object in the world. "History said it disappeared…" she said softly to herself, "but history was _wrong_."

* * *

Several hours later, Starfire had finished reciting her story and Raven had repaired the necklaces for the celebration of Blorthog. Telling the story had been difficult, but she had managed to tell a very un-detailed version. She was uncomfortable telling such half-truths to her friends, but not as much so as she believed she would be. Sometime in the course of her trials in the future, Starfire had come to understand the concept of a white lie. 

Starfire remained seated on the couch long after the celebration had ended and everyone had gone to bed, lost in her thoughts. She was startled out of her reverie when the object of her consideration, a certain dark empath, sat down across from her on the couch. "Starfire…" she started, and it looked like she was gnawing on her lip nervously. Starfire tried to keep emotion from her face, but it was very hard. She would probably never be able to look at friend Raven quite the same again. "I couldn't help but notice that I never appeared in your story."

Starfire wanted to hit herself. 'How could I be so foolish?' she thought as she realized there was a difference between being able to tell a lie and being good at it. As Star tried to come up with a suitable explanation, Raven continued.

"Star… I need to know." Starfire wasn't good at concealing her emotions, and she knew that she was probably broadcasting everything Raven would want to know straight into her friend's empathy, whether the girl was trying to read her or not. Raven's face fell. "I was dead," she said, and it was a statement, not a question. One look into Star's eyes, and Raven knew everything.

The two looked into each other eyes in uncomfortable silence for several minutes, hazel meeting amethyst as each tried to consider what this meant. Raven was the first to speak. "Are we still friends, Star?"

"Yes, friend Raven, we are." That, Starfire knew, was the one thing between them that had not changed. After the events of today, it would probably never change.

Raven got up without a word, and walked to the door. As it opened before her, she turned her head just slightly back towards Star. "Thank you." She said, and was gone.

'Thank you for what?' Star thought. 'Being your friend? Not telling the others? Or for being honest with you?' Probably a mix of all three. As the alien girl watched her dark friend depart, she thought to the clock locked in the Titan's evidence room. 'History said it disappeared, and history was wrong,' she considered, 'which proves that Warp was wrong, and history can be changed. But can a destiny?'

Star hoped so.

* * *

End Chapter 12

* * *

A/N Ok, next chapter won't be quite so depressing, I promise. It will actually have a little fluff in it... nice change after this... exceedingly dark future. All I have to say is: How's THAT for foreshadowing? duh duh duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh. The reason for Raven being buried in a military cemetary is that in the comics, Terra's was "buried" (empty casket) as a Titan in a military funeral... it made sense Raven's death would match.

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams –

-Well… a LOT happens  
-The Titans get a new member… someone Starfire thinks is very familiar  
-Slade is back, with new plans for the team  
-Raven finally confronts her gold-cloaked emotion  
-2 perspectives I haven't used before!  
-More Robin/Raven in real time. About time we got back to that!

Next Episode – Terra


	14. Terra

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Well, you guys wanted to hear what's going to happen with the real Terra. Here you go. Also, since this story is organized as episodes, I've been trying to figure out what should be the opening and closing theme for it. Anyone have any ideas? I hear one I like, I'll use it and give ya a shout out for it.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 12 – Terra

* * *

A blond girl was running through the desert outside of Bloodhaven desperately, chased by a giant scorpion. Unfortunately, the poor girl's canyon path had run into a dead end. She stopped under a stone archway above, and turned, backing up slowly towards the wall, her eyes never leaving her attacker. That's when the Titans showed up. "Teen Titans, GO!" Robin yelled, and Starfire flew into action, eyes glowing green as she powered up a starbolt in her hands.

The girl suddenly looked up, and her eyes blazed like fire with golden energy. She stretched out her arms, and ripped the overhanging archway free and brought it down on the Scorpion right below. Robin was in shock. "She wasn't in trouble," he said, belatedly.

"No," Raven agreed, "she was leading it into a trap. But who is she?"

The girl's long, blond hair swirled around her as a pillar of stone rose up and she stepped onto the ledge where the Titans stood. "Hey. I'm Terra."

Robin held out a hand to her. "And we're..."

"The Teen Titans!" Terra said with a smile. "Rock on!" She made a fist and punched Robin's hand as he clenched it as well. "You're Robin," she said, turning to point at each Titan in turn, "and you're Starfire, Cyborg, Raven, and..."

"Boy Beast! Errrr, Bat Boy! Errr..." the green changeling stuttered out, unable to think straight. Raven thought it was the funniest she'd seen Beast Boy act so far... He had only just met her, and he was already falling head over heels for the beautiful blond teen.

Terra just smiled at his antics. "Beast Boy?" she corrected him, voice tinged with amusement.

"Eeep!" Beast Boy turned into a tortoise in embarrassment, and tucked his head into the shell in a rather cute display.

Terra cracked up. "He's hilarious!" Raven gave her a disbelieving sideways glance, but stayed silent. In her eyes, anyone who thought BB hilarious was suspect.

Apparently, BB was as surprised as Raven. He popped his head out of the shell and returned to his normal form. "You think I'm funny?" Terra gave him a quick hug, and Beast Boy practically melted in her arms.

This whole time, Raven had noticed Starfire looking at Terra very strangely. As soon as she released BB, Star went up to her and pressed her face just inches from Terra's. She started speaking rapidly. "Please tell me. Where are you from, how did you get here what is your favorite color doyouwishtobemyfriend?"

Terra pushed her face backwards a little, bending backwards to give her a little room to breath. "Umm... Earth, walked, blue, and… sure?"

Starfire gave her a devastatingly tight hug. "Welcome, new friend!"

As Starfire, Beast Boy, and Cyborg started practically dragging Terra towards the tower, trying to make convince her to stay, Raven turned and looked at Robin. He was kneeling at the ledge where the blond shaman had come up. "Is there something wrong?"

Robin grabbed a handful of sand and let it sift between his gloved fingers. He looked at Raven. "I'm not sure," he said. "Keep an eye on her, ok?" Raven nodded, and they walked back to the tower, closer to each other than either realized.

* * *

Behind them, Slade emerged from the dark cave he had been hiding in. He had watched the entire encounter between the Titans and the super powered young girl, and he smiled behind his mask as he saw the ledge she had stepped on collapse. "Don't get too attached to her, Titans. I saw her first. And I know something you don't."

* * *

Several hours later, Tara was asleep on the couch, and the five Titans were sitting around the kitchen table discussing her. Starfire was strangely quiet. She didn't know what to think of Terra: She had a strong suspicion that she knew this girl. If she were to place a wager on it, she was all but certain that this was Tara. "Why can't she stay here?" Cyborg asked. "She could use a place to crash."

"She needs more than a place to crash, Cyborg." Robin responded, and Raven nodded. "She needs a home."

"Why not ours?" Beast Boy entered the conversation, looking up and meeting Robin's masked eyes. "She has powers… she could be a member of the team."

Robin was skeptical. "I don't know, Beast Boy…"

"Friends, I think friend Beast Boy is right." Starfire spoke up for the first time since Terra came into the Tower. "If you remember, I spoke of a girl named Tara 12 cycles of the sun ago? I believe this is her." All the Titans looked at each other, digesting this new bombshell Star had dropped on them.

Robin finally nodded curtly. "We'll let her stay for a few days, and see what happens. We'll train with her tomorrow." Looking around and seeing no disagreement, he stood and walked out of the room. No one else noticed, but Star saw him steal a quick glance at Raven before he left.

* * *

Beast Boy couldn't sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he thought about the new girl sleeping just seconds away in the den. He shivered. The tower was too big to heat very easily, and the island could get very cold at night. Terra had to be freezing. BB grabbed a blanket and walked out to the den.

"Terra?" He called out softly as he approached the couch. "I thought you might be cold, so I…" He stopped as he rounded the couch and found it empty except for Terra's CD player. 'Where did she go? Her stuff is still here, so she couldn't have left…' BB stared out the big bay window, down to the island below and out to sea.

Distance and the tower's walls silenced the surf beating against the rocks, but he could still hear it in his mind's eye. 'If I was a girl who could control the earth, loved nature, and spent the last year in a desert… that's where I would be.' He scanned the rocks, and thought he could make out a figure sitting on one of them on the east side of the island.

* * *

Terra was lost in her thought as she stared out to sea. The simply beauty of the desert had almost made her forget how lovely the ocean was… it's magnificent power. Terra loved nature: Through her connection to the Earth, she felt linked to everything on this planet. She didn't find it strange at all to love both all things natural and the luxury and technology the Tower had to offer… her mental argument was far more complex than that.

'I'm a danger to them,' she thought. 'I'm being selfish to stay. Every time I try to use my powers to help, I end up only destroying. I put the Titans at risk every moment I spend near them.' As she thought, her eyes started to glow and she absentmindedly lifted a rock and threw it out to see, using her control over the earth to make it skip. She repeated this process a few more times until a rock splashed into the water loudly instead of skipping.

The noise shook her out of her reverie, and she glanced back to see Beast Boy standing behind her. She gave him a little smile and levitated another rock into his hands. "Try it again." Beast Boy threw the stone, and Terra gently prodded it with her powers, forcing it to skip into the distance.

"Yeah!" he said, giving his fist a little pump and adopting a strongman pose. Terra glanced over at him, and then averted her eyes with a blush.

'He's actually cute...' she thought. She continued to look out to sea sadly. BB sat down near her, sliding down onto an adjacent rock to give her plenty of space. She sighed. "I can't stay."

"Why not? You have powers, your funny, you can fit in here! I... we all would love for you to stay." Terra noticed the slip, but said nothing. Instead, she turned from the ocean and met the changeling's eyes.

The warmth shining from those green orbs made her stomach flutter. He really did like her: he wasn't just acting to make her feel good. She gave in. "Well, I guess I could stay for a few days..."

"Yes!" BB said, smiling at her. "Everyone will be glad to hear it. We can chill out, and I can make you laugh more, and maybe you'll decide to stay! We're training tomorrow... I can't wait to see what your powers can do when you really cut loose."

Terra was becoming more and more uneasy as Beast Boy continued. Her control over her powers was tenuous at best: only constant focus and confidence allowed her to keep it inside her. The anxious feeling that had been growing as he spoke peaked when he mentioned her powers, and Terra lost her hold on them. Her blue corneas were flooded by golden energy, and the rock BB sat on bucked, throwing him to the ground, before going flying out to sea and landing with a loud splash.

Terra was over him in an instant, her power back under control. "Oh my god, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to... please don't tell!" The two pairs of eyes locked, as Terra knelt by Beast Boy and looked down on him.

BB started to sit up, rubbing his head a little. "Terra, it's cool. So you're not totally in control. It's no big deal."

As he tried to rise from the ground Terra grabbed him by the shoulders. "Promise me you won't tell!" she said in a panicked voice.

"Sure, I wo-" BB started lightly.

Terra cut him off with a little shake of his shoulders. "_Promise_ me!" she begged, her azure eyes about to tear up.

"Ok, Ok!" Beast Boy said, rising to his knees and removing her hands from his shoulders, grasping them in his own. "I promise." Terra mumbled what might have been a thank you before burying her face in his shoulder. "It's ok, Terra. It's ok. Seriously, it isn't that big a deal. Everyone would still like you if they knew."

Terra lay in his arms for a good, long time, taking comfort in his presence as she let all the stress and worry out of her. 'It was so cold just a few minutes ago...' she thought. 'Why am I so warm now?'

* * *

Neither Terra nor Beast Boy noticed a pair of amethyst eyes watching them from the bay window of the tower. Raven, suspicious by nature, was less than pleased by the new girl's presence. It had taken her the last ten months to reach trust the other four Titans. She couldn't just summarily trust this new girl.

It would be a foolish empath who didn't know herself well enough to think that was the only reason for her unease. There was much more to it. Terra's appearance meant that the future Starfire had seen was on track so far. Fear certainly was a reason. Another was Robin's suspicion that all was not right with the girl. That suspicion was confirmed by the lack of control she had just witnessed.

Still, Robin was right. There was no harm in letting her stay a while. If she was dangerous, where better to keep her than near five superheroes? Raven couldn't help but think of her summary rejection from the Justice League because she might be dangerous. Terra deserved better than what Raven herself had received. 'We'll see how she does tomorrow. Then we'll talk.'

* * *

The next day, Robin and Raven stood by the control panel of the new obstacle course. Cyborg, the courses designer, took its maiden run. "Are you sure Terra can handle this?" Raven said to him, quiet enough that the three Titans below. "I don't think she has enough control to manage this."

Robin gave a little nod. "Perhaps she can, perhaps she can't. One way or the other, we need to know," he said as Cyborg finished the course.

* * *

"Boo Yah! 4:15! New course record!" He boasted, doing a little victory dance.

"Cyborg, your the first person to try the course." Raven coldly informed him, and he started rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Terra, why don't you try it next?" Robin offered, his voice showing it was not a question. That was the last thing Terra wanted to hear... she was already in a nervous sweat. Hesitantly, she stepped up to the beginning of the course.

"You can do it, Terra. Don't worry about it," Beast Boy said to her quietly, "It's no big deal if you mess up. Not that I'm saying you will mess up, but-" he cut off as Terra gave him a warning glare. "Sorry. Shutting up now."

She pulled her goggles over her eyes and crouched at the start. "Don't loose control, don't loose control, don't loose control," she whispered to herself. She clenched her fists and her eyes pulsed once before regaining their blue hue.

"Go!" Robin yelled, and Terra ripped a hunk of rock up from beneath her and using it as a flying platform. Her flight wasn't smooth, but it was functional. A blast from one of the course's cannons hit the stone platform and it splintered, sending Terra tumbling off. The blonde teen caught herself with another rising slab of earth, sending the broken pieces back towards the offending turret and smashing it apart.

'Whew...' She thought, then looked ahead and screamed. The metal gateways she had to get through were just ahead. Terra had no time to dodge,and her eyesflashed goldas she summoned a pillar of stone to precede her. The arching column crashed through the gateways just ahead of her.

The force of impact from the metal shrapnel broke Terra's balance, and she toppled towards the pit beneath her. Terra desperately summoned platform after platform to her, but she couldn't get a grip on any of them and slid into the pit. Two small stones shot down after her, and she wrapped a hand around each. Terra smiled as she began to fly back upwards.

Terra used the leverage the floating rocks to throw herself upwards, flipping upwards and bringing a new floating platform directly underneath her. She saw a battery of the cannons ahead, and swirled a maelstrom of stone around her just in time to catch the projectiles. An inferno of concussive blasts erupted in front of her, but she remained untouched in the eye of the storm.

Stretching out her hands, Terra summoned missiles of stone and threw them towards the attacking turrets, crushing them. The diversion of her attention cost her the precarious grip her powers had on the platform, and it wobbled and quickly lost altitude. Terra managed to keep her balance during the shaking, but lost it when she crashed into the ground landing in a rolling tumble and coming up in a crouch at the end of the course, directly in front of the Titans.

Beast Boy, Starfire, and Cyborg all wore stunned expressions on their faces, and they stared at the girl. Terra nervously stared back. 'Uhh oh, that doesn't look good.' She stood, swallowed her anxiety, and adopted the pose of a gymnast presenting herself to the judges after a routine, smoke rising from the course behind her.

The three Titans cheered and ran up to her. "Yeah Terra!" Cyborg yelled, "That was incredible!"

"A fantastic job friend Tar... Terra."

BB was just opening his mouth to speak when the slim blonde girl practically tackled him with a hug, briefly brushing her lips against his before she buried her face against his neck. "You were right..." she said, so softly that even Beast Boy could hardly hear her. "You said I could do it, and you were right..."

* * *

Robin turned to the silent girl standing next to him. "What do you think?" Raven didn't move or look away from the embracing teens below, although she did let her breath out to show she had heard. Robin looked back down at where the two were still hugging, and fought back an urge to do the same to Raven. 'Bad idea, Robin.' Still, he inched a little closer to the dark teen, taking comfort in her closeness.

"I think," Raven said in an even tone, "that we need a new obstacle course."

Robin laughed. He loved Raven's cynical sense of humor... it was one of the many things that he was starting to adore about her. After he finished laughing, he sighed. One of the funniest things about a cynical joke was that it really never was a joke: Terra really had pretty much totaled the course.

Robin was also beginning to realize how much more Raven meant with what she said than anyone else on the team would guess. "In other words, she's dangerous."

Raven finally turned to look at him. "She has a lot of power, and not very good at controlling it. I controlled power is very dangerous, regardless of the intent of it's user."

"I guess you would know that best." Robin winced. That came out harsher than he intended for it to. Luckily, Raven didn't seem to be taking offense. Instead, she just turned back to Terra, her amethyst eyes boring into the girl.

"Yes, I would."

She looked so forlorn right then that Robin wanted to hold her in his arms and beg her to explain everything to him. Damaged innocence was the appropriate description for her: She carried herself like someone forced to grow up too quickly. Richard Grayson knew what it was like to have your childhood ripped away, but somehow he sensed that she had suffered through far worse than he.

The Titan's leader wanted to understand this girl more than anything. He already knew he could trust her completely, but he wanted more. The dark empath was a riddle, and somewhere beneath the enigma was a young girl Robin was slowly falling in love with. He was too busy thinking about the beautiful Titan to even realize the subject of his thoughts had noticed him staring.

* * *

'Why is he staring at me?' Raven wondered, holding back a little blush. 'Is there something on me? I don't have another one of Beast Boy's pranks on me, do I?'

'He likes you, Raven,' her gold cloaked Raven piqued up from Nevermore. This time Raven couldn't stop herself from blushing, and a nearby piece of shrapnel went flying.

'Why should I listen to you? You won't even tell me who you are! There's no chance I'll trust you."

'You should listen to her emotions more, Raven,' the young, gold Raven said. Raven was annoyed to notice Knowledge, Happiness, and Anger nodding in agreement. 'Don't you trust us?'

'Anger is one of my emotions, and I know I can't anything she says. She is little more than an extension of my father... how do I know you're not the same?' As Raven had this conversation, she realized that this Raven really did look very different from the rest of her emotions. It wasn't thatthe golden emotionlooked like a younger version of Raven, like she had first thought:It was more like the emotion was someone else who lookedsimilar to her. It was a mystery to the empath,and she figured her emotions wouldn't explain it to her.

The golden emotion seemed to pick up on her thoughts on appearance. She curiously looked down at herself, then pointed at her own face at the four eyes continence of Anger. "Form reflects function. Am I really so dangerous?"

Raven shook her head. "I'm done playing this game. If you want to talk to me, tell me who you are." The entire mental battle had only taken a moment, and Raven was back in the real world. She had to admit, it was sort of odd to see Robin looking at her that was. 'Don't do this to yourself. He doesn't feel that way about you, and he's better off that way.'

She was spared from needing to do anything about Robin by the alarm going off in the tower, summoning the team up to the control room right away. The Titans went, and Terra went with them.

* * *

Terra was surprised at her impulsive actions with Beast Boy. Her embrace and kiss were certainly heartfelt, but she could barely picture herself doing that now, only seconds after letting him go. She was also embarrassed at ruining the course, thrilled with her success and the Titans enthusiastic reaction, and anxious about what the problem calling for an alarm was. When the group entered the control room, the monitor was already on. It was a man wearing a suit made of some armor, and an orange and black mask split down the middle with only one eyehole. Terra didn't recognize him but the Titans obviously did.

"Slade." Robin said, clenching his fist at his sides. "So you didn't decide to pack up and leave for good. Pity for you."

"Pleased to see you again as well, Robin. Perhaps we should meet again?"

Robin was about to explode when Raven laid a soft hand land on his shoulder, and he called down immensely when he looked back and saw her. He let out his breath heavily, and let his anger go with it. "What do you want, Slade?"

"Why don't you come down and see for yourself? I'm at the diamond mine south of town." With those final words, Slade cut the connection and the screen desynchronized into static. Robin looked around at his teammates, and saw no disagreement in their faces. Without a word, He turned and ran out of the room with Raven following closely behind him. The other Titans turned and quickly followed the two through the door, leaving Terra standing all alone in the room.

Terra stared after the departed Titans, then turned and focused on the static-filled screen as it slowly faded to black. 'Guess they don't want me,' she thought. Terra couldn't really blame them: she wasn't really in control, and someone must have realized that at sometime during that practice run. Terra sighed. "Oh well," she said aloud, "there's always next time."

Suddenly, Beast Boy ran back into the room. "Hey Terra! You coming or what?"

Terra didn't know what to say. They _did_ want her along? Speechless, she just gave her best friend a heart throbbing smile and ran to the door, following Beast Boy down to the basement.

* * *

As Robin expected, Slade's bots were waiting for them when the Titans arrived. The team and Terra were quickly engaged in a pitched battle against the mechanoids. The bots weren't doing a very good job of attacking the Titans, however. Robin felt like something was wrong. They were out numbered, with a seemingly never ending supply of reinforcing bots coming out of the mineshafts, but they weren't having any real trouble. In Robin's estimation, the bots weren't really supposed to pose a threat: just keep the Titans busy.

Suddenly, the room trembled a little, and fine gravel started to shake itself loose from the ceiling. Robin tensed and prepared to bolt, but the top of the cavern above him maintained its integrity. He turned back to fighting just as a deafening rumble of stone against stone erupted from behind him. "BEAST BOY!" Terra screamed out over the roar. Robin turned just in time to see the tunnel over BB collapse, burying him in seconds.

* * *

Terra couldn't believe what she had just seen. "No..." she said softly. 'Not him... the person that had been so nice to me...' This was all her fault. She had tried to help him, but she had lost control over her thrice damn powers again, and collapsed the ceiling on top of the one person she cared for. "Beast Boy..." she whispered, her voice cracking as she started to sob.

Terra's head shot up and she looked down the hallway as she heard rapid footsteps echoing in the now total silence. The man with the orange and black mask ran by her tunnel. "Slade..." she whispered darkly, and her eyes took on an angry glow. She ran after the masked madman.

* * *

"BB!" Robin yelled, running over to the rockslide. He started moving rocks off from the collapsed pile. Dimly, he noticed that the Slade Bots disappeared after the slide. "Raven, help me!"

Large chunks of earth went black as Raven took control of them and sent them flying across the cavern. As the other Titans joined in the efforts to move the collapse, it started to tremble. A green fist punched though the remains of the pile and a battered and cut but very much alive Beast Boy pulled himself out. Robin stepped up. "Are you alright?"

The changeling nodded. "Where's Terra?" The team looked around, noticing she was missing for the first time. BB turned back to the rocks. "She must have been trapped on the other side. We have to help-" BB was cut off as Slade's bots poured back into the room. The Titans scattered, and the last thing Robin saw before he leapt into the melee was BB running back for the rock pile.

* * *

Terra was chasing Slade through a maze of tunnels, always managing to catch a glimpse of him before he turned a corner. Terra's eyes beganto glow with the power of the earth as the blonde shaman raised her hands and brought the tunnel down in front of the escaping villain. "Now I have you!" She floated rocks up, forcing them to rotate her like electrons orbit an atom. She stared right at Slade as he continued to face away from her, daring him to move.

When Slade moved, it was faster than Terra had ever seen anyone move before. In a single, smooth motion, Slade spun about and hurled a stone at her. Terra reached out and reversed its direction, sending it spinning back towards him... or where he had been. The stone blocked her sight of the master villain for a split second, and in that single moment of blindness Slade moved. When Terra reversed the direction of the stone, the blind spot was removed and Terra saw, too late, Slade spinning under his projectile. His kick sharply knocked her legs out from under her, and she went down hard. A bomb detonated on the ceiling behind her, and both sides of the tunnel were blocked off now.

"On the contrary, Terra." Slade said in his smooth, sinister voice. "I have you."

* * *

End Chapter 13

* * *

Hope you enjoyed that. I have a pronouncement to make: If this fic breaks 150 reviews (I'm not even halfway done and it's at 90... odds are looking good), you get a sequel! Smile

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

What does Slade want with Terra?  
-Is Slade the only threat to Bloodhaven?  
-Robin's lips end up just inches from Raven's  
-And Terra's powers to their best to kill everyone

Next Episode: A Momentary Lapse of Control


	15. A Momentary Lapse of Control

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N I'm sorry, this one is shorter than usual. The chapters will gradually return to normal length within 3 chapters, I gurantee it.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 14 – A Momentary Lapse of Control

* * *

"What do you want!"

"You, Terra." Slade answered smoothly. "I'm just here for you."

Terra rose to her feet, clenching her fists as she stared him down. "Back off! I'm with the Titans!" Slade's only response was to pull out a compressed staff from his back, twirling in front of him to extend it to full length. He adopted a ready position, beckoning her on with the hand not gripping the staff. She shaman snarled, rocks detaching themselves from the walls and spun towards him.

The master criminal wasn't fazed at all. He smoothly spun his staff in circular patterns, shattering each projectile into tiny rubble that bounced harmlessly off his armor. "You'll have to do far better than that, Terra," Slade mocked her as he resumed his ready position. "We need to talk..."

She roared and launches another volley at him, allowing him to roll to the side. Terra spun in a tight circle, stretching out her hand and sending a pointed rock... flying right past Slade. He didn't even try to dodge: he just turned and amusedly watched it fly harmlessly by. "And I see we have so much to talk about."

Terra's goggles shattered from the power gathering behind her eyes as her hands glowed. "Mind if I talk with my _hands?_!" The young Titan-hopeful tore a large block of stone free from the ground faster than a blink of the eyes, and sent it spinning towards her attacker. Slade was more than prepared. He dug his staff into the ground and vaulted himself up and over the projectile, landing safely in its wake with a broken staff. His smooth movements and impassive demeanor still hadn't been disrupted, even for a second.

"Impressive..." he said, cocking his head to the side, "unless of course, you were aiming for me." Terra backed up, realizing for the first time just how badly she was outclassed. Slade came to his feet and charged. Terra threw piles of stone at her attacker, but he dodged most of the attacks. Those rocks he couldn't dodge, he smoothly shattered with bone shattering blows from hand and foot, inexorably working his way towards the blonde teen.

The desperate girl brought a shield of the earth up between then, but Slade punched through the barrier without difficulty, fracturing the stone and clipping Terra in the shoulder. The blonde was blown against the wall, and stayed down. "You don't belong with the Titans, Terra."

"Shut up!" Terra spat as she forced herself to her feet. "You don't know anything about me!"

"On the contrary, Terra," he said, opening a fist to show a small hair comb that Terra recognized well, "I know everything about you." He walked towards Terra, and she cringed away from him. "I know why you're always running away. I know why you live by yourself. Avalanches, mudslides, earthquakes... Everywhere you go, you try to do good... and everywhere you fail.

Slade started to stroke Terra's hair, and she didn't recoil from him. He smiled beneath the mask. You lack control, Terra. And when you lose control, you are more dangerous than anything I've ever seen." He said as he clipped the comb into her hair, and turned away.

"But it doesn't have to be that way."

Terra turned to look at him, a small look of surprise covering her face as she looked at the back of the mastermind's mask. "I can help you, Terra," he said, never looking back.

"You... can?" Terra couldn't believe what she was hearing, and all thought of the Titans temporarily left her as she selfishly indulged the thought of finally controlling her powers.

"Yes, Terra. But it will take more than obstacle courses and simulations," Slade said as he turned back to her, grabbing a stone from the ground. "You need a teacher... a Mentor. Right now, you are... rough around the edges, like this stone." Slade was grinding the rock in his hand as he spoke, crushing it with inhuman strength. Finally, he opened his hand to reveal the diamond that had been hidden inside the stone. "Come with me, and I can teach you to _shine_."

Terra turned away from him and his soothing words. "Liar..." she said, letting her voice drift off. "My friends told me you're-"

Slade interrupted, changing the subject. "You don't really think they're your friends, do you?"

Terra spoke with her head tilted down, her voice full of melancholy. "They took me in... gave me a home-"

"And when they discover what you are they'll cast you out."

"Beast Boy-"

"Can't keep his mouth shut forever," Slade finished for her. "He'll tell them."

Terra fists began to glow as she clenched them. "He promised..."

"You can't rely on him forever, Ter-"

Terra spun on him, waving her hand and creating a swirling hurricane of stone to separate them. She was being manipulated... she was positive of that. "Go Away! Just... Go away and _Leave Me ALONE!_" A storm of conflicting emotions swirled around the girl faster than even her rock shield. Hate, anger, distrust, jealously, loneliness, fear, pain, hope, friendship, and something that just might be a real feeling for Beast Boy twisted her perceptions. She wanted to cry. This was all the fault of her damn powers...

Her powers!

Terra gasped, falling to her knees in the eye of the self-created storm. She couldn't see, but she was positive her eyes were glowing an angry gold. "Don't loose control, don't loose control, don't loose control..."

"Now Terra," Slade's voice came mockingly from outside her rock storm. "How can you lose something you've never had?" The young shaman cried out, and she started to float off the ground. She could feel her hair whipping about her face as her powers overloaded, and she closed her eyes. Slade's voice faded into the distance as he spoke. "I'll find you, Terra."

Terra screamed.

* * *

In the main room, the Titans were finishing off the last of the Slade bots when the entire cavern started to shake. "Guys!" Cyborg yelled at Robin and Raven from across the room, "We gotta get out of here! Slade's bringing the whole mine down!"

"I don't think this is Slade, Robin," Raven said softly to him, and the two shared knowing glances. Without any warning, a huge rock fell from over Raven's head.

"Raven!" he yelled as he charged, tackling her out of the way as the boulder smashed the stone behind them into splinters. Robin and Raven tumbled to a stop on top on one another, their faces just centimeters away... Robin wiped that thought from his mind. This was NOT the time for his stupid hormones to act up. "We have to get out of here!" he shouted to the other Titans as he rose, pulling Raven to her feet as well. 'Beast Boy, whatever your doing, do it fast...'

Was Raven _blushing?

* * *

_

Beast Boy popped his gopher head up and saw Terra spinning inside her self-created cocoon of stone. He went under again, and popped his head back up from inside the storm.

He unmorphed. "Terra!" he yelled, meeting her glowing eyes as they wept. The wind threatened to lift the changeling from the ground, but he welcomed the help in reaching the object of his affection. He grabbed one of her outstretched hands as he whipped by, keeping himself inside the deadly whirlwind. Despite her pain and danger, Terra made no effort to grab his other hand "Terra, grab my hand!" he pleaded, holding it out to the beautiful, suffering teen. The two teens locked eyes, and time seemed to stop as Terra's slowly stopped glowing, her blue globes softening as she stared into Beast Boy's. Slowly, the wind slowed, and the young couple floated slowly to the ground. They held each other in their arms for an eternity.

"It's ok now, Terra. It's ok..."

* * *

"Well guys, it's been fun, but I guess I'll be going now..." Terra cut herself off as she opened the door and found Cyborg barring the way. She turned back to the rest of the Titans. "Ok... what's going on..."

Robin stood forward. "We want you to stay."

"Yeah!" BB echoed, and she smiled at his voice. "We want you to stick around."

She turned back to Robin as he spoke. "Of course, you'll need more training if you want to join the team. We know you're not completely in control of your powers, and-"

As Robin spoke, Terra's face started to fall. By the end, she couldn't take anymore and cut him off, looking at BB with teary eyes. "You told them?" she forced out in disbelief through the betrayal. She turned, pushed past Cyborg, and ran off through the door. She heard Beast Boy yelling for her, but she just wasn't listening anymore.

'He betrayed me...'

* * *

Beast Boy stood, looking out to see on the edge of the island. Terra was gone, and he was just beginning to come to term with that. She had run, leaving him behind.

Because she thought that HE had betrayed her.

Robin walked up beside him, and together they looked out to see. Finally, BB spoke. "She's not coming back."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know it was some kind of a secret," Robin tried to sooth him, "I just sorta figured it out." The two Titans didn't speak anymore, they just continued to stare off into the night.

Raven called Robin on his communicator. "Robin?"

"Yes, Rae?"

"We have a problem in town. We're going to need you and Beast Boy up here, now."

"Be right up," he said, closing the communicator. "Come on, BB. The Titans have a job to do."

* * *

Through the wasteland outside of town, Terra ran without looking back. Her lungs burned, but she didn't want to stop to breath, and nor did she use her abilities to use the Earth to transport herself. If she stopped exerting herself, she'd have to think. Terra no longer wanted to think.

'Beast Boy... how could you?'

* * *

Slade watched the girl run away from Bloodhaven. "Run as far as you like, apprentice," he said to himself as he watched the screen, "Because every step brings you closer to me." Slade frowned when his wrist pad blinked. 'Trouble in the city... and I'm not the cause?' He changed the frequency of his screen to find the disturbance. Four figures were robbing a computer research facility.

The thieves were a pink haired girl with pointy hair, a giant with orange hair, and a bald midget with spider legs. Slade recognized them. 'The kid's from H.I.V.E. Academy seem to be up to something. What is Brother Blood doing?' Slade did not, however, recognize the new member of the team. She had orange hair, spiked up, and wore dark, gothic clothing.

Resolutely, he put it out of his mind. It didn't matter to him, and if it kept the Titans busy for the next few weeks, it would serve his purposes well. Slade went back to watching the retreating shaman.

* * *

End Chapter 14

* * *

Next time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

The Titans meet a new villain... who doesn't appear in the T.V. Show.  
I give you a completely original episode.  
I'm scared shitless of writing this one.

Next Episode: All that Shimmers.

A/N Yeah, that was short. Sorry about that. I'll make it up to you with a longer update next time… and this episode is pretty much unique. This episode's quiz: Who is the fourth villain with the H.I.V.E. kids? I think I sorta spelled it out in the summary, but whatever. This one's a gimmi, I guess.

**Sorry for the delay between now and the next chapter... it should be up on _THURSDAY, May 5th._** AP testing SUCKS!


	16. All That Shimmers

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Sorry, this one is also kind of short. The chapters will return to normal length soon. On the bright side though, I'm posting it up two days early! Aren't I a wonderful person? Anyone who figured out who the new villain is will appreciate the extended version of this Episode's title. I'm using the appearance for her from the Outsiders comic last year, because her appearance in the TT comics was idiotic.

Man, you reviewers all ROCK! I was beginning to think I would break 150 reviews on LAST CHAPTER! D.

**Unforseen** – Thanks for reading it! Unfortunetly, you'll have to wait a bit for Birthmark. I promise, it'll be worth it, and I'll try my best to make it good for ya in the interim… kk?  
**Blaze-Firestorm –** lol… I'm glad you liked it. The reason I'm able to get this up early was I left school today after my AP Calculus test… I just didn't want to have to do the rest of the day after that. 1 down, 4 to go.  
**Mysti-eyed –** I figured you might not know… if you haven't read the comics, there would be no reason for you to know. Well, enjoy the chapter!  
**Chinxy**_ – _Actually, I have AP English on Thursday… it's the test I'm least scared of. Study Hamlet… a LOT. Know it cold… you can use Hamlet to answer any single question they could throw at you. Anyway, hope you enjoy the new villain!**  
SporkWoman – **Heh… good to see another comic reader. I think I make her much cooler than she ever was in the comic. Enjoy!  
**Evilsangle –** Thanks for the reassurance. Hope you like it… I suppose it's not completely original because it's still based off an episode, but nothing quite like this ever happens and the character and fight are completely new from the show Cannon.  
**Siren's Call –** First of all, kick-ass name. Second of all, I'm glad your enjoying it… here's the chapter a few days early!  
**King Cheetah** – I'm glad you enjoyed. Not much I can say that I haven't said before… get around to Black Mass and Call in the Night please D!  
**Lolopixie –** Well, aren't we both feeling dumb then? D. One test down, 4 more to go. Enjoy the chapter, and good luck!  
**Water81 – **What the hell new can I say to you? You already know what I'm probably thinking D. Enjoy the chapter, man!

I'm going to state it up here for purposes of making sure no one misses it… **Next chapter up on SATERDAY!**

ALSO: I have decided on the soundtrack for this fic. I'll post it up at the end.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 15 – All that Shimmers can be Gold

* * *

"All to easy, ay Jynx?"

Jynx was sorting through a file cabinet, pulling all the files Gizmo told her to as he sifted through the computer. "Quiet. Focus, we want to get out of here as fast as we can. Let's get this done. The headmaster will _not_ be happy if we fail him." Gizmo flinched under the rebuke, but went back to work.

While Jynx and Gizmo pulled research and development, Mammoth was straining under a heavy super computer he had just torn out of its sockets. "Hey guys, I could use a little help over here..."

"How about a foot?"

Mammoth turned his head rapidly towards the voice just in time to see a cybernetic foot shoot towards his chin. Mammoth went flying backwards from the force of the kick, dropping the computer. 'Oh, shit...' Jynx thought as she turned towards the assembled Titans standing in the entrance. Before they could exchange any words, Jynx spun into a twirl and flung three waves of negative energy at the ceiling. The Titans scattered, and counter-attacked.

Robin and Jynx quickly found themselves in a deadly dance of Robin's staff strikes and Jynx's hex waves. Each combatant ducked and wove as they dodged each attack, neither able to land a blow. "What is H.I.V.E. up to!" Robin demanded as they fought.

Jynx smiled as she wove arcane energy around her. "Wouldn't you like to know?" Suddenly, Jynx took a hard blow from behind and tumbled forward, transforming her tumble into a controlled roll and coming up in a ready stance. Starfire was floating behind where she had been, eyes and fists encased in a emerald glow.

"Yes we would." she spoke, crossing her hands over her chest.

The witch took the chance to do a quick visual sweep of the room. The other H.I.V.E. members weren't fairing much better than she, Jynx saw. BB was chasing around gizmo, and Mammoth was trying and failing to hold of both Raven and Cyborg together. As she watched, Mammoth threw a rock at BB to clear Gizmo's tail, but his lack of attention to his own fight was devastating. Raven slammed into his with the levitated super-computer he had dropped, and he strained to avoid being pinned against the wall. With some much of his effort focused on pressing again the computer, Cyborg's right hook clocked him.

Jynx sighed. They weren't going to win this. Much as she would have loved to not need help, she knew her pride wasn't worth the headmaster's rage. "Team, pattern Epsilon."

* * *

Robin was proud of how his team was acting. Watching them fight against these guys really put the growth of his team in perspective. The first time they fought, H.I.V.E. had wiped the floor with the Titans. This time was different.

When Jynx yelled out about Epsilon, the three regrouped in the center of the room, and the Titans moved to surround them. "Now, why don't you be good boys and girls and tell us what you're up to?"

A female voice from behind him called out to him. "Why don't you be good little boys and girls and stick to what concerns you?" Robin turned and watched an orange haired girl emerge from the shadows. She was wearing a blue jump suit, tailored to expose more skin than necessary. It opened up on her abdomen and resumed in a cross hatched pattern of latex that barely covered her breasts. The teenaged girl, appearing around 17, was a true goth. She wore dark eye shadow under her gray, lifeless eyes, and her skin was pale, emphasized by the crosshatched patterns of her outfit. She wasn't just dark in the way Raven was... she looked like someone you'd see at a Marilyn Manson concert.

She smiled; a cold gesture that couldn't quite reach her eyes, never blinking as she stared at Robin. "I'll handle them. Run off and lick your wounds, Jynxie... and don't forget the papers for Blood's pet project."

There was no way Robin was just going to let them leave, and everyone knew it. As the three started walking towards the edge of the loose circle, Raven's eyes started to glow. Robin put the H.I.V.E. students behind him out of his mind: Raven would handle it. His focus never left the girl in front of him.

"Who are you?" Robin demanded as he brought his staff to a guard position. The gothic villain just walked right up to him, pressing her face just centimeters from his.

"Call me Shimmer," she said with another smile, and her eyes started to glow sapphire. Raven cried out in surprise, but Robin didn't dare risk a glance back to see what had happened. Instead, he snapped his weapon upwards, hoping to catch Shimmer under the chin. To his surprise, the staff practically disintegrated as it came closer to her, falling into dust.

Shimmer's hand shot down and caught the falling dusk, throwing herself backwards as Robin followed up his unsuccessful staff blow with a series of punches. Robin leaned back and attacked with a high kick to her face. Shimmer threw up some of the dust in the way, and Robin's foot recoiled off the line of dust like it was a solid steel wall.

As Robin backed off, he stole a glance behind him. The H.I.V.E. kids were gone, and all that remained was a gaping pit in the floor. The other Titans formed up behind him, preparing for a fight. As one they charged the smiling teen.

Shimmer's already blue glowing eyes pulsed brightly, and she extended her hand towards the attacking BB in panther form. The air around him suddenly took on a noxious green hue, and he transformed back to his human self, clutching his throat. "Starfire, get him outta there!" Cyborg yelled as he blasted the H.I.V.E attacker. She fluidly rolled out of the way of the sonic wave, coming up just in time to reach her hand out towards the massive computer Raven had thrown at her. A path cleared itself straight through the object, the material seeming to just vanish before her, leaving nothing but air in front of Shimmer as it landed with a ring through the center on the other side of the dangerous villain.

"No way…" Cyborg said as he stared blankly at the defeated projectile.

Starfire's eyes glowed fiercely, and she shot a beam towards the goth. Shimmer smoothly kicked a small scrap of metal from the ground into its way, and before Robin's eyes it seemed to crystallize. When Starfire's energy beam hit it, the ray reflected back at her, knocking her against the wall with a cry of pain. Shimmer quickly ducked just as a birdarang soared directly through where she was a moment ago, and began frantically weaving as she dodged punches from Robin. The most eerie thing was that the same smile still hadn't left her face.

Suddenly, Robin lost his footing, and stumbled. Looking down, he incredulously noted that the floor beneath his foot had simply vanished, down several centimeters below the normal surface of the ground. Shimmer took advantage of his lost balance and stepped in, landing a wicked kick to his midsection and knocking the air from his lungs. Robin frantically rolled backwards just in time to save his head from a stomp by her platform shoes.

The Titans regrouped in a loose arc in the center of the room, facing Shimmer as they tried to find a strategy against the seemingly unstoppable criminal. Slowly, she reached down to the ground, scraping her hand across it. Shimmer's smile never vanished as she grabbed a small piece of rubble from something Mammoth had shattered, and then righted herself, holding the metal in her open palm. As Robin looked on, dumbfounded, the steel seemed to melt and become a floating orb of a metallic liquid, resembling mercury.

"Recognize this, Titans?" She asked, her glowing eyes narrowing. "It's Quicksilver. Do you know what that is?"

Robin did, and judging by the nervous shuffle behind him most of the other Titans did too. Quicksilver was a highly volatile compound of mercury and hydrogen. It was radioactive, but it was one of the most stable radioactive compounds known to man... as long as it didn't touch anything. When the compound came into contact with almost anything, the Hg would tear its covalent bond apart to get at any other element or ion. This process gave off a huge amount of energy, mainly released as heat. None of this would be a big deal... except that the Hg was abandoning H+ ions when it reacted with anything else. A great number of H+ ions. Hydrogen was flammable. The high temperature of the reaction would cause the hydrogen to combust, and...

"Boom!" Shimmer said, and she threw the floating orb at the Titans.

The quicksilver quickly ignited, sending a blazing fireball speeding at the teen superheroes, leaving a trail of flame in the air behind it. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" A black globe fell over them, just as the chemical bomb reached the Titans. The quicksilver shattered against the black shield and the room lit up in a dazzling explosion of light.

When Rae dropped the shield, there was almost nothing left of the building - the titanic explosion had pretty well obliterated the building. Shimmer was nowhere to be seen. Raven partially collapsed, leaning on Robin to keep her feet. He turned to look at her. "Are you alright, Rae?"

She nodded. "As long as I don't have to block another blow like that, I'll be fine." Despite her announcement, she didn't stop leaning on Robin. As the Titans walked back to the car, BB was pestering Cyborg to explain what the hell had just happened. Otherwise, they spend the car ride in silence, Robin still holding on to Rae.

* * *

When they got back, Cyborg went straight to the central computer, and then started inexplicably smiling. "Better get ready to face her again soon, Rae."

She scowled. "I thought I told you not to call me that." Cyborg just shrugged and turned back the screen to hide the ironic twist his smile had taken on.

Robin walked over. "What've you got, Cy?"

"I placed a tracer on Mammoth fat head when I clocked him one. He didn't find it, and he lead us right to..."

Robin smiled and finished, "H.I.V.E. Academy." Despite his excitement, he couldn't help but think: 'She lets _me_ call her Rae...'

* * *

Next week, Raven was sitting on the roof at night, meditating. Cyborg's undercover operation hadn't gone very well. The new headmaster, Brother Blood, had discovered him quickly, and tried to brainwash him into serving H.I.V.E. The maniac apparently had mind controlling powers... even though Cyborg had managed to free himself from the forced slavery, he had needed to fight for it.

More upsetting to Raven was what he was doing to the school. The satanistic lunatic was turning the school into a cult to worship Trigon. Humans worshiping her father never ceased to amaze her. He wanted to destroy them all! His preferred title was Trigon the Destroyer... how much clearer could it get? For a brief moment, Raven indulged her anger. Sometimes, even she needed to vent in order to keep her anger from coming out when it would be harmful. Here, in her meditation, it could be controlled. 'I _hate_ him. Why can't he just go away and _leave me ALONE!_' The empath sighed, and blew out her anger with the rest of the expelled air.

As Raven came out of her meditation, she saw a brightly colored figure exercising in the night below her, on the rocks by the ocean. Robin. She watched him in silence for a while. To her shock, she discovered she was blushing. Nothing had blown up this time, a silent tribute to her increasing control over her powers. Maybe next time, she would be able to laugh. Next, perhaps she'd be allowed to cry. Eventually, she just might be able to tell Robin what she thought about him. She trembled at the thought. It scared her to want to reveal such thoughts, but the concept of actually being able to was more addictive than any drug.

Her piercing amethyst eyes followed Robin as he trained, and she waited for the expected voice. It didn't take long to come at all. 'Raven, your powers are growing stronger every day. You know you like him, and its obvious that he likes you. Why don't you do and tell him so? He's right there…'

Raven sighed. These conversations were becoming pathetically routine… practically every time she saw Robin outside of a mission. 'Goldenrod, this is really starting to get old. Have we not already discussed exactly how I'm not going to listen to you until I know who you are?'

Her golden self seemed just as frustrated as she was. 'I haven't I already told you that you have to figure that your for yourself? I'm not simply choosing not to tell you, Raven. I'm just not real unless you find me on your own.' She stared directly into Raven's soul as she spoke. 'And if you think you're tired of putting up with me, just imagine how sick all of us in here are of you ignoring the obvious right in front of you! You already know you can trust him. You already know he wants to help you.'

'I don't need anyone's help.'

'Arguable, but unimportant. The important part is that he wants to do whatever he can to ease you're pain. Admit it or not, you also already know he likes you. So tell us, Raven… _what is holding you back?_' She turned away from Raven and continued, 'And don't say your emotions being dangerous. You have dealt with that your entire life, and you've worked around it. Trying that excuse here is just a cop out.'

Raven actually didn't know what to say in response to the gold emotion's outburst. Her inability to respond was made worse by the expressions of agreement her other emotions wore. Even Timid and Fear, though not nodding, made no objection. Only Anger seemed to disagree, and she could care less what anger thought. 'I… I don't know. I can't deal with this now… leave me alone.' Raven waved her hand softly, and the voices of her emotions were banished back to the corners of her mind. A final, soft whisper from gold caught her ears, full of sadness.

'You can't ignore him forever, Raven. You'll lose him if you do…'

* * *

Starfire was not in a good mood. Terra's sudden departure had hit her hard, and what she had been observing from friends Robin and Raven frustrated her to no end. Her relationship with Robin had only improved since her trip to the future… she no longer felt like she belonged with him. With that feeling came acceptance, and a want for her two best friends to be happy. That was the real reason Star was so upset right now.

Watching Robin and Raven sitting as close to each other on the couch as they could without being obvious about it was enough to drive her mad. It was blindingly obvious to her that they adored each other… but neither one of them could see it! The whole situation was deeply pathetic… if someone as innocently naive as Star could see it, how couldn't they?

Someone tapped her on the shoulder, and she turned to see Cyborg standing behind her. Holding a finger to his lips, he gestured to outside the living area. Star followed him, and they leaned against opposite sides of the hallway. "Now it's my turn, Star. Penny for your thoughts?"

Starfire was quite a good minute, debating what to tell her cybernetic friend. She settled for telling most of the truth. "I was examining my thoughts about how two intelligent people could be blind to one another."

Cyborg smiled knowingly. "Ah, so you noticed it too, huh? Doesn't surprise me. It's very obvious once you bother to look for it… meaning Beast Boy probably hasn't caught on yet."

Starfire giggled. "It is so." She sighed, looking away from friend Cyborg towards the closed door into the living area. "Friends Robin and Raven are… meant for one another, I do believe… yet they can not see it." Starfire looked back to Cy. "Why do you believe this is?"

"Star, Rae isn't exactly in touch with her feelings, and Robin isn't the best at dealing with other people. The fact that Raven doesn't exactly show how she feels often doesn't do anything to help either. Really, I think they're both afraid of each other. They're practically best friends and they'd trust each other through Slade's hideout and back again, but their terrified of what their feelings for each other could mean. They're so similar… real birds of a feather."

"I do not understand you, friend Cyborg. What are the birds that share a feather?"

"It's an expression, Star… it refers to two things that share common traits. It was also a pun… a play on words… where a word could mean more than one thing and both make sense."

Star looked confused, and nibbled on her lip while she tried to puzzle out Cyborg's meaning. Suddenly, her hazel eyes lit up. "Ah! I understand! It is funny because friends Robin and Raven share much in common, and both are named after Earth birds… correct?"

Cyborg laughed. "Yeah, that's right Star. We'll have you making Earth style jokes before you know it."

Cyborg was still laughing when Star asked her next question. "Friend Cyborg, you seem to be very knowledgeable about the dating of friends. Have you had such an experience?" Cyborg continued laughing, but even Star could detect the change in his laughter. It became… bitter.

"Star, you've seen now what I looked like before my accident. I was a popular kid in school, and an athlete. Yeah, I've had some experience."

Star detected more. "Is there one for which you having such feelings now?"

"No," Cyborg said, too quickly, and walked away. Confused, Starfire put him out of her mind… he wasn't the problem at hand right now, friends Raven and Robin were. She had a lot of thinking to do.

* * *

End Chapter 15

* * *

A/N Yeah, I'm sorry that was prettyshort, but the next one will be longer... maybe. I hope you enjoyed Shimmer. It always annoyed me when comic writers created a character with incredible powers, and then always used her power so ineffectively. The best they could ever come up with for Shimmer to do was turn things into toxic gas. I think I came up with a handful of better uses for her powers. You'll be seeing more of her.

**REVIEW!**

Next time on Teen Titans – Fragile Dreams:

Another Interlude!  
-Starfire tried to figure out what to do about her two best friends.  
-What's wrong with Cyborg?  
-Cyborg puts his all into taking down Brother Blood.  
-What's going on with everyone's favorite shaman?  
-And another scene that comic readers will enjoy at the end.

Next Episode: Third Interlude Silence

**Next chapter up on SATERDAY!**

Now… Soundtrack. I would recommend trying to get these songs if you can… I think they fit the story very well, and will make reading it more enjoyable. All the song's listed have been used already. I'll add more songs as they become useful to the story. I'll warn you the chapter before the song so if you want to get it, you can.

Track # - Title of Song - Artist of Song - Album of Song - Role in the Story  
Track 1: Wish You Were Here – Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here – Opening Song  
Track 2: Shadowman – Brother – Digging Bone – Song in the First Interlude  
Track 3: And One – Linking Park – Hybrid Theory EP – Song in the Second Interlude  
Track 4: Skip for now  
Track 5: Skip for now  
Track 6: Skip for now  
Track 7: Skip for now  
Track 8: Skip for now  
Track 9: Missing – Evanescence – Either Anywhere but Home or Not for Your Ears EP, your choice – Ending Song

Thanks very much! I'll talk to you guys later!

**Next chapter up on SATERDAY!**


	17. Third Interlude: Paradise

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N This chapter will be normal length... for an interlude. Thanks for all your reviews! The music is going to be a little different this time. It isn't actually in the chapter, and no character actually hears it this time. The song was submitted by Water81, AKA Jebus of Nazarath… thanks for that. He also helped me proofread this chapter, so give him a shout of thanks, guys… without him this chapter might have been late. The song is dedicated to Raven's gold emotion for reasons that will become obvious. The sound track is going to get expanded soon thanks to some research by Water81, also. The name of the interlude has been changed from Silence to Paradise.

For clarity, I'll explain the timeline here. This interlude takes place after the episodes Deception, wavelength, and Titans East pt 1, and during the middle of Titans East pt 2.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I? Paradise in Me is owned by K's Choice.

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 16 - The Third Interlude: Paradise

* * *

_Consuming far too much  
Ignoring the world to touch  
The ones who don't have food at all…  
I'm breathing, I'm wondering how  
We watch Wheel of Fortune now  
I close my eyes and try to see  
A piece of paradise in me_

_Beat me up  
And smash my brand new TV  
To help me look for  
A little piece of paradise in me_

_I'm dancing, I'm writing songs  
About what bothers me the most  
About those who can't dance at all...  
I'm only jumping, I'm only freaking out  
And I wonder what it's all about  
To close my eyes and finally see  
A piece of paradise in me…_

**-K's Choice, Paradise in Me

* * *

**

The better part of a month after the fight with H.I.V.E. academy, Raven wasn't sure how to feel. She hadn't been meditating much lately... only when absolutely necessary. She hated to admit it, but her gold emotion was starting to scare her.

It sounded so incredibly convincing while telling her to do thing she knew to be too dangerous. Why did it always seem right? Raven knew she couldn't allow herself to feel with her current level of control... she had been taught that since her birth. The instilled desire to show her emotions towards Robin since five months ago was insidious.

Raven didn't want to think about it anymore... she needed to get some tea. As she walked to the main room, however, she heard Robin yelling from the control room. She entered just in time to catch the end of a conversation between Robin and Cyborg on the screen. "You already _HAVE_ a team, Cyborg!" Robin yelled at the screen, "You can't just walk away!"

Cyborg's voice lowered back to a cold whisper. "Watch me..." The screen went black, and Robin just blew up.

Robin slammed his fist down into the console. "Damn it Cyborg!" He swiped his hand sideways, knocking a collection of object sprawling across the room. "Why do you have be such a stubborn, independent, arrogant..." He raged.

Robin quieted as Raven softly laid her hand on his shoulder. "You mean like you?"

With anyone else, he might have taken offense. Instead, Robin just sighed heavily, and took several deep breaths before he whispered back, "Yeah... exactly like me..." He leaned back in the chair and looked up at her.

* * *

Robin gazed up at Rae's beautiful face, cloaked in the shadows of her hood. It was startling and vaguely exciting to have their lips so close to each other. He felt the strongest urge to kiss her, but stifled it. 'Bad idea, Robin. You're already as close to her as your ever going to get. Don't ruin it.' 

"So, he quit again, didn't he?" Robin couldn't help but notice that she seemed shaken up. Robin looked at her with concerned, caring eyes.

"You haven't been meditating again, have you?"

Raven's hard violet eyes softened for a second, in that moment Robin felt like he knew everything about the young empath. He could actually feel her pain, her internal struggle. He wanted to help her, more than anything he'd ever done. Robin lifted his hand to the one on his shoulder. "Rae... please tell me. What's wrong?"

Her eyes hardened, and she tried to pull away. "I don't need any help!" Robin wasn't going to let her go that easily. As she pulled back, he spun the chair around and stood, refusing to let her hand go. "I can take care of myself! I don't need your pity!"

Robin wrestled with the dark mystic as she tried to push him away. "Raven... not needing help is not the same as not wanting it." Raven stopped struggling with him as she considered that, her body relaxing. For the first time, Robin finally noticed that sometime during the fight he had unconsciously wrapped an arm around her, pinning her left arm against her body and resting lightly just below her neck.

* * *

'Not needing help... not the same... not wanting it...' 

Her independence had never allowed her to need anything from someone else before, nor rely on help from others. But Robin was right... desiring help and needing help were not the same. Wanting help still required letting someone deep into her trust, however, allowing someone into things about who she was that no one had ever seen before. Did she want help?

The answer surprised her. From him she did.

She could feel his breath brushing against her face, swaying her wispy lavender hair. His face was just inches from hers. Raven was scared... this was exactly the situation she had wanted to avoid. She didn't want to ask the question of whether or not Robin felt something for her... now that was all but unavoidable. She could feel Robin's heart rapidly beating, and knew her own heart was going just as fast. She couldn't catch her breath... she was breathing too rapidly. She closed her eyes... and Robin's lips brushed hers.

Every emotion in her body went haywire with the physical contact. It felt like electricity flowing through her body, lighting up every nerve in her body at once. Her hands unconsciously moved around Robin, pulling him against her.

Raven gasped slightly, and a small bolt of black energy shot out and shattered the big screen. The dark empath shot away from Robin like a lightning bolt, clenching her eyes in an attempt to regain control. She fell to her knees. 'Control, control... calm down,' she thought. It felt like her entire body was on fire, but she finally managed to lock her emotions down. Raven opened her eyes, and say Robin kneeling on the floor beside her.

He looked at her with emotion that his mask couldn't quite conceal. "Raven..." he started. He never got to finish.

Robin's communicator beeped just a second before Raven's did. "Friend Robin! Friend Raven! Friend Beast Boy! I do believe that friend Cyborg is in the trouble." Star's unusually dour voice came over the radio. "Brother of the Blood has gained control of the Eastern Tower!"

"We better go," Raven stated simply, and ran out of the room without a glance backwards. 'So... it would seem Robin does feel something for me?' As she ran, she could hear someone laughing in her head and could make a reasonable guess which emotion it was.

* * *

Robin watched Raven leave without a second glance at him. 'You shouldn't have kissed her. How could you be that stupid? Now she just wants to get away from you.' Robin tore a glove from his right hand and brushed his lips softly with it, savoring the lingering feel of Raven's lips on his. He was more positive than ever now that he loved that girl, and he had just royally ruined any chance he might have had with her. 

On the other hand...

She didn't pull away from him. She didn't slap him or shoot him down in any way. She had only broken the kiss when her emotions got out of control. Robin's knowledge of Raven had glaring blind spots, but he did have a general idea that her emotions produced the energy her powers fed off of, and that's why she needed to keep them in control all the time. She had only broken off the kiss when it became unsafe to continue.

'At least I obviously made her feel _something_...' he thought, but it failed to make him feel better. _What_ did she feel? Robin sighed: now he was going to be more hesitant than ever to try and discover her feelings. "Wow, Robin… you just really fucked that up, didn't you?" he mumbled under his breath.

Robin forced those thought out of his head. Right now, Cyborg needed help. He could deal with his personal problems later.

_I'm only jumping, I'm only freaking out  
And I wonder what it's all about  
To close my eyes and finally see  
A piece of paradise in me…

* * *

_

The next day, Raven was meditating on the roof while the rest of the Titans, the rejoined Cyborg included, played an intense game of volleyball. Her emotions had been in a mess since Robin had kissed her. She had since decided on the obvious: Robin had to like her to some extent. So her gold emotion was right… he did care. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy for her.

Raven had learned a great deal more from her first kiss, as well. She wasn't ready to try to get close to Robin. The emotions that the simple act of kissing him brought out of her were beyond her control, and deadly. If she dared to try and get closer to him, she would risk hurting him or even killing him: her lack of control was too...

"Raven, look out!" Beast Boy yelled. She opened an eye and saw the ball speeding towards her. With a thought, her soul-self caught the ball dead in the air, stopping it instantly and throwing it back at BB hard. He got knocked over as he caught the speeding ball, tumbling to the ground.

She saw Robin rub the back of his head. "Uh, Raven? Are you _sure_ you don't want to play?"

"Yes! Come and volley the ball with us, friend!"

Raven closed her eyes. "I'm positive." Turning her concentration inwards, she continued her thoughts.

...dangerous. She had actually avoided being alone with Robin whenever possible over the last twenty-four hours. Raven was worried that Robin might feel like she was avoiding him because she didn't feel the same for him as he obviously did for her. It was quite the opposite, and the Azarathian girl wasn't so lost in thought she couldn't appreciate the irony: she had to stay away from Robin so she could tell him, someday, exactly how much she wanted to be with him.

Raven needed to become stronger before she could risk expressing her own feelings for Robin. She wouldn't be able to live with herself if she got him hurt… they were lucky yesterday. Until she had enough contr...

"HEADS UP RAE!" This time, Raven just sighed in annoyance and levitated to the side, allowing the ball to fly off the tower. Raven attempted to return to her thoughts, but was distracted by... the silence. It was too quiet: all noise on the roof stopped. Raven turned to her teammates and opened her eyes too see them all staring at her in stunned silence.

'Are they really that mad at me for not getting the ball?' Raven thought, but her musing was interrupted by an amused voice from behind.

"So. What team am I on?"

* * *

Back in Steel City, three figures were sitting in the darker corners of a smoky bar. Jynx, Gizmo, and Mammoth hunched inside a small booth in the back, trying not to draw attention to themselves. Steel City wasn't safe for them anymore… not with the new team of the Titans in control. They were wanted people, and there was little doubt the Titans would come down on them hard if they revealed themselves. 

Since Brother Blood's defeat and the fall of H.I.V.E. Academy with him, there wasn't a safe place for them anymore. Gizmo was reading some paper in the dim light, and Mammoth was just pounding down soda after soda. Jynx wanted to hit him. It was hard enough avoiding notice when you were a 7 foot tall giant… did he have to be half sticking out of the booth too?

Jynx had been distracted lately… ever since Stone's… 'Cyborg's…' infiltration of the H.I.V.E. Academy, as a matter of fact. It was absolutely ridiculous, but she found herself feeling _betrayed_, as though Cyborg's actions were a deliberate slight against her personally. She had really like him, too: First time she had stronger feelings than just a crush in her life. 'But he was a traitor,' she thought to herself, sipping a soft drink slowly. She had the sudden urge to throw it across the room, but repressed it. She wished she had something stronger to drink. Maybe Shimmer could... She shook that thought from her head. The last thing she wante to do was actually ask for a favor from the arrogent bitch. Besides, it wasn't long before her thoughts forgot the drink andrefocused on _him_.

'How could St… Cyborg _do_ that to me?' Illogical as she knew the thought was, it wouldn't leave her. 'He hung out with me all the time when he was one of us… did Stone ever actually like me?' she thought, not even bothering to correct herself, 'Or was he just faking everything?' Jynx shook her head, attempting to banish all thoughts of Stone from her head. Her future was at stake right now, and she couldn't let him take that away from her by making her lose focus.

Glancing over into the main area, Jynx saw Mammoth's sister leaning against a pool table, holding a cue. She held out her hand, and some guy reluctantly slapped a couple of bills into it and then stormed away. Hanging up the cue, she started heading towards her teammates. Shimmer laughed as she approached, but her gray eyes remained emotionless. "My lord do they all suck at pool," she exclaimed, slapping forty dollars down on the table, "I'm not even cheating them!"

"We're all very proud of you, Selinda. However, your talents at playing pool aren't going to help us find new work, or help us get out of the city," Jynx snapped at her, voice dripping with sarcasm. Jynx knew her internal conflict was making her on edge and she should handle Shimmer's flippant manner with more tact, but she was too tired to mince words right now. She really plain didn't like the gothic member ofher team: She had too much of a superiority complex. While Shimmer supposedly served under her, she was almost insufferably insubordinate and Jynx always had to watch the transmuter carefully.

"Oh, calm down Jynxie," she said in a sing-song voice, not quite mockingly. "We'll be ok." She turned to where her brother was still slamming down drinks. "Oh dear, it seems dear Baran needs another drink or two. I'll go get them," she said, snatching back up one of the twenties. She was about to walk out into the main area when Gizmo jumped up.

"Ah HAH! Look at this!" he yelled, waving his newspaper around in one upraised fist.

"Quiet down!" Jynx whispered harshly at him, looking cautiously around. Convinced no one was paying undue attention to them, she turned her attention back to her dwarf of a companion. "Now, let me see that," she said, taking the newspaper right out of his hand.

It was the Underworld Star, she noticed for the first time. The newspaper was only published twice a year, and contained news intended for some of the greatest criminals in the world. Where Gizmo had found a copy, she had no idea. The small section Gizmo had excitedly circled in pen was a small paragraph written by a famous villain. Jynx had heard of him: He operated out of Bludhaven. She read through the entire article, and then passed it to Shimmer and Mammoth, never saying a word. As soon as Selinda finished, it was to Jynx's utter lack of surprise that she was all for the idea. "We should go! That sounds just like our ticket!"

Jynx was more skeptical. "I don't know. Bludhaven really doesn't seem like the smartest place for us to go."

Shimmer ran both hands through her loose orange hair, brushing it back and out of her face. "Oh come _on!_ You were just saying how we needed to get out of this town! Here's the perfect chance!"

"Marching right back into contact with the Titans isn't exactly what I had in mind! The Titans are the reason I want out of _this_ city." 'Not to mention Cyborg,' she added to herself.

"We'll have backup this time. It won't be like H.I.V.E. again." Shimmer argued, a wry smile slowly coming over her face. Her eyes remained expressionless, however. "Or perhaps is it that you've lost your nerve? You're too nervous to go back to Bludhaven again? Worried you'll get taken for a fool by another traitor, Jynxie?"

Jynx had heard enough, and she was not in the mood for a full-blown argument with Shimmer right now. Besides, she really didn't have any better ideas. "Fine. Pack up, we leave tomorrow." She sat up from the table and walked out of the bar. As she left, she could just hear Selinda snidely whisper "Stupid witch."

* * *

End Chapter 16

* * *

A/N  
Well, THAT certainly got the ball rolling, now didn't it? I also think the H.I.V.E. scene turned out really well, too. Well, this will be a REALLY easy quiz for anyone who had read the comics, but what do you think the former H.I.V.E. students found in the newspaper? 

On a final note, I realized I've been spelling Bludhaven wrong all alone... it's not Bloodhaven, that's just how it's pronounced. My mistake... I'll go back and fix that one of these days.

Anyway, **REVIEW!** We're almost to 150...

**Next Chapter on Thursday!**

Next time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

Terra makes her return to become a Titan  
And what happened to Terra while she was gone? Did Slade find her?  
And what's going on with the H.I.V.E. kids?

Next Episode – Titan Rising

* * *

Ok, I want to clear this up. I recently got into an argument about what powers certain people have, and what I call them. Since different people wrote many of the comics on these characters and even more different people do the show, getting a completely accurate picture is impossible. However, this is my impression, and that's what I'm sticking to. 

Slade Wilson (Deathstroke) – Enhanced control over his body and mind, huge amounts of combat training. Also has more advanced technology at his disposal that practically anyone on earth, including nanobots.

Mammoth (Baran Flinders) – Super strong, and not very smart. Sometimes referred to as a giant by me, for obvious reasons.  
Gizmo (Mycron) – Technological genius with no actual powers. Sometimes referred to as a midget or dwarf, again for obvious reasons.  
Shimmer (Selinda Flinders) – Matter Transmutation within a three foot radius of her body. Can make practically anything, but not much at once.  
Jynx – She's a magic user. Most of the spells she uses involve altering probabilities, but that's not the only magic she can use. Sometimes referred to as a witch.

Terra (TaraMarkov)– Control over the earth. I refer to her as a shaman sometimes because she has control over an element, which seems shamanistic to me. Also, I just needed something else to call her once in a while. Shaman works.  
Cyborg (Victor Stone) – Mechanically enhanced human with a sonic cannon built in.  
Beast Boy (Garth Logan) – Shape shifter able to take on the form of practically any animal he has seen. Sometimes referred to as either a changeling or a shapeshifter, in reference to his abilities.  
Starfire (Koriand'r) – Super Strength, flight, and ability to project energy in the form of rays and starbolts. Sometimes referred to as either an alien or a tamaranian for very obvious reasons.  
Robin (Dick Grayson) – No powers, just lots and lots and lots of training under one of the greatest fighters in the world… what the HELL could the true master teach Robin that Batman couldn't? Seriously…  
Raven Roth – Now here's were it gets interesting. Her powers are really hard to figure out, since both comic and episode writers tend to forget about what she can do at times. Raven's powers are really separated into 2 areas. First, she has arcane (magic) in nature powers, taught to her in Azarath. She rarely uses these except to focus her stronger power, empathy. Her emotions essentially produce energy, with interesting effects. This allows her to read mind, produce bolts of energy, and project a soul self. Her soul self allows her to levitate objects and herself, walk through walls, teleport, shield herself, and… well, practically anything: it just depends on how much emotional fuel it's given. On a third note, she knows some martial arts for the mental discipline aspect. I sometimes refer to her as an empath or a mystic, referring to either side of her powers.

If you don't like any of that… tough. I plead artistic license.

* * *


	18. Titan Rising

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Wow, this one is long…

Well, first of all... WE HIT 150 REVIEWS! THANK YOU, REVIEWERS! This means you all get a sequel to this. Aren't you lucky? But seriously... WOW! All you reviewers literally blew my socks off! Thank you for everything! 19 reviews! I think that's my new record!

**TheDisruptiveOne** - I'm glad you enjoying yourself. Yeah... perhaps things will get messy quickly... but you'll have to wait until Monday to find out! P.

**DarkBird1345** - Thanks for reading! I usually update once every 2 or three days, but since this is AP week, I'm a little slow. I almost always say at the end of any chapter when the nextchapter will be up, though.

**Raerob4eva** - We already talked D. Rating has gone up to M now... just to be safe. And to keep options open.

**I'm a free spirit** - I like the name D. Glad you enjoy reading it... and ironically, your review insured that I WILL keep it up, because you're my 150th reviewer! Hurray! You just guaranteed everyone a sequel! Be proud!

**Lenarta **- I'm really glad you're enjoying it, and thanks for the detailed review. I know I've been a little slacking on the interactions between the guys, but that will get remedied... there just hasn't really been an appropriate place for it yet. I wish you luck finding other real rewrites of the series, but don't get your hopes too far up. One of the reasons I wrote this is that I wanted to see this type of thing done and couldn't find anyone doing it.

**Raven and Nightwolf **- Ummm... why would I mind that? D. I'm thrilled! Unfortunately, you still have a little bit of a wait before Birthmark... but I promise it'll be worth the wait... D. I wish TT was updated more often also, but you don't have to worry about that with me: I always post up at the end of every chapter when the next chapter will be posted.

**lolopixie** - yeah, they certainly did, and yes they certainly are. As always, I'm glad you enjoy it, and thanks for your reviews!

**raggedywings **- Well, you're not really supposed to like Shimmer... she's a little bit of a bitch, yes? That said; she's a vital character for reasons that will become clear. Plus... she probably at least an even match for Jynx.

**Reggie Tuesday** - Well, that does sound depressing. Unfortunately, I can't claim credit for Shimmer; she was a character from the comics. I CAN, however, say that I invented her character and her behavior/interactions, because she was probably one of the least developed characters to ever been written about in more than one issue of a comic.

**Linnath** - Heh... you got your wish. Hope you enjoy the chapter.

**Evilsangel** - Well, I can't quite agree with you on Terra because I really like her, but thanks fine with me. I hope I manage to change your mind about her further as I developed her more, because she is sorta a pivotal character in the story. Well, it seems you at least probably got the pairings right... Rob/Rae is the pairing of the story, BB/Terra has been heavily implied so far (next chapter it might become much more set in stone) and potential for Cy/Jynx seems to exist... perhaps only one way? Or was Cyborg's depression when talking to Starfire during "All that Shimmers," also a reference to Jynx?Me to know, and you to figure outD.

**Blaze-Firestorm - **Well, first of all, Terra DID come back during Titan Rising and not Aftershock, and I showed just the very beginning of the next chapter/episode in the volleyball scene at the end of the interlude. But yeah, I mess with the timeline of the story a LOT. For example, in the series, both Aftershocks are long over and done with before we ever meet Brother Blood. Episodes are very commonly skipped or rearranged from the continuity of the TV show. So, I guess short answer is yes, I did change when Terra both disappeared and reappeared.

**Zaire** - Well, it's Thursday! Enjoy!

**Finalitylife** - Yeah, nothing would ever be simple for them, would it? Yeah, things are going to get quite interesting. And I'm glad you feel sorry for Jynx, because that means I'm succeeding... I want to you feel sorry for her: at least as compared to Shimmer.

**Siren's Call** - Name is as awesome as ever, and I'm glad you like my rewrite of that communiqué scene... I agree; it seems more real.

**Darkofthenight** - Hmmm... I'll take it under consideration D.

**Water81**- Again, you leave me with nothing to say I haven't already said. About BB though... did you see Troq the other day? THAT'S the difference between Beast Boy and Changeling.

**Unforseen** - Thank for the high praise. I hope Terra wont disappoint D.

**King Cheetah** - Oh, we will... we will...

Welcome back into the Terra arc! Yeah, this is the harbinger of more BB/Terra action. What effect will this have on Rob and Rae?

I will warn everyone… the focus of the next few episodes is definitely not on Raven and Robin. They're still pretty heavily considered (the story is about them, after all) but these next few are definitely developing Beast Boy and Terra more than anything else, and what's going on between Raven and Robin is going to sit on the back burners for a bit while Raven tries to figure out how to gain enough control. This means there is going to be a lot of BB POV and some Terra POV, more than there is Robin or Raven POV.

LASTLY... did anyone see Troq? Man, I thought that episode was really lack luster... except for Beast Boy. Woah... he FINALLY uses his power effectively. I think we just saw the bridge between Beast Boy andChangeling.

Wow... that was an amazingly long Authors Note, before an amazingly long chapter... almost 16 pages on my word processor.

**NEXT CHAPTER ON MONDAY! **

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 17 - Titan Rising

* * *

"TERRA!" Starfire and Beast Boy yelled together, rushing the blond teen as soon as she stepped off of her stone platform and onto the roof. Starfire reached her first, pulling the girl into a bone crushingly tight hug. "Welcome back, friend! You remember me, yes?" 

Terra gasped, pushing futilely against Star's tight grip. "Of course, Starfire... I still have bruises from the last time you hugged me." Starfire finally realized that Terra probably couldn't breath, and backed off.

"Terra! I thought I'd never..." Beast boy moved to hug her, but then self-consciously realized what he was about to do and stopped, extending a hand to her. "I mean, it's great to see..." he nervously pulled the hand back and rubbed the back of his head, shuffling his feet around." Errr... What's up?"

Terra just smiled, pulled BB into a hug, and kissed him on the cheek. "Good to see you again, too." Beast Boy practically melted in her arms.

"Welcome back, Terra," Robin said as he walked with Cyborg.

Terra let go of Beast Boy and turned to the Titan leader. "Robin, Cyborg, what's shakin?" she said lightly, punching Robin playfully in the shoulder.

"It's good to see you again."

BB interposed himself between Terra and Robin. "Is he KIDDING! It's GREAT to see you again! I thought I'd NEVER see you again!" BB took her by the hand and dragged her over to Raven. "Hey Raven! Look who's back!"

Now that BB mentioned it, Robin noticed the beautiful empath stillhadn't risen from her lotus position. As far as he could tell, she hadn't even opened her eyes. One of her eyebrows came up, and she glanced first at him, then at Terra and BB before closing it again. "Awesome," she said unexcitedly, "Just help yourself to anything in the fridge, and don't forget to lock the door when you leave." Robin could hear the unspoken 'again.'

Terra smiled. "Actually, I don't think I'm going to leave again. I'm ready to take you up on your offer to stay. I want to be a Teen Titan."

_Now_ Raven rose to her feet. Robin and the rest of the Titans looked away from Terra and fidgeted with whatever they could find to look busy. An uncomfortable silence fell over the group until Terra noticed everyone's discomfiture. "Sorry," she said sarcastically, "I didn't know the offer had an expiration date." She turned back towards the tower edge where her platform was still waiting.

Robin laid a hand on the slim girl's shoulder, stopping her. "The offer didn't expire, Terra..."

As soon as Terra stopped pushing forward, Robin saw BB step in front of her. He probably desperate to keep her from leaving again. "Yeah...it's just that... well, last time you were..."

"You didn't have control over your powers," Raven stated simply, making BB jump a little from her directness. Even Robin thought she could have been a little more tactful. Then again, he figured he didn't have any right to complain: the way she was acting was probably his fault.

'She hasn't spoken to me outside of everyone else's presence since I kissed her. She must be really pissed at me… what the hell was I thinking?' Robin berated himself. 'How could I be so stupid? I just lost the only chan…'

Robin's thoughts were interrupted by Terra's response. "Well, duh! Where do you think I've been the last month? Practicing!" She jovially ran to the edge of the tower. "Check this out!" she cried as she dove off the edge. The Titans rushed to the edge to see her just as she came soaring upward on a flying platform of solid stone, followed by three others like cars on a train. The titan-hopeful began doing a dazzling aerial acrobatic routine with her four platforms.

"Wow!" Beast Boy exclaimed as Terra whipped by the top of the tower, the just flowing Raven's hood off her face. "She really has gotten better."

"She learned a few new tricks," Robin heard Raven correct him and she pulled her hood back over her head. "That doesn't mean that she's gotten any less dangerous." Robin disagreed, at least slightly. He had to admit that he was impressed by Terra's growth, and in only a short month. If she really could control her powers now, she'd make an ideal addition to the Titans.

'Raven will come around,' he figured. 'It just isn't in her nature to trust easily.'

'…and I just really hope I haven't lost that trust.'

* * *

Terra was moving in for her finale right now, the four rocks converging at a point right above the tower roof. Terra leapt off and onto the tower right before they rocks would have collided, and her hands glowed gold as she pushed them into a steep vertical climb. Finally, she imploded the four rocks with her powers far above the ground, causing them to detonate in a brilliant white sunburst. 

Cyborg, BB, and Starfire cheered, and Robin had to smile. Terra was just about to bow when suddenly the earth trembled, causing the tower to shake a little as the dull rumbling sound resonated around them. Raven gave Terra a withering glare, and the shaman seemed to shrink under its force. "Uh… it wasn't me!" she said, throwing up her arms in an "I'm innocent" expression. Suddenly, the alarm went off. Robin met the Titans' looks one by one, and then they all rushed down to the control room. Terra followed them.

* * *

Terra looked over at Raven. "See? I told you it wasn't me!" Raven just shrugged, unapologetic. 

"Man, that's a lot of earthquakes," Cyborg said, "Too many to be natural."

"That's because they aren't earthquakes. They're a trail." Robin said while tapping the keyboard. A new diagram of the quakes came up, showing them clearing forming in a curving line through the city. "Something it moving under the surface."

Beast Boy punched into his own hand. "And it's our job to find it and teach it a lesson." Terra gave a little smile at how cute he was while trying to act all tough. Despite herself, and what he did to her, she couldn't help but like the youngest Titan.

"Right. Titans, GO!" Cyborg yelled, and he ran out of the room towards the car. Beast Boy and Starfire followed him out, and Robin and Raven moved together towards the door before Robin stopped and turned back.

"Are you coming?" As he asked, Raven turned around also and looked at the slim shaman.

Terra couldn't believe her ears. "Does this mean I'm on the team?" she asked, her eyes sparkling at the prospect.

Robin, however, shook his head. "It means we could use your help." Terra shrugged: that was good enough for now. She smiled, nodded, and ran for the door, brushing past Raven slightly as she went. She noticed Raven's eyes open wide, but paid no attention to the hostile girl.

* * *

When Terra touched her, Raven's empathy went nuts. Visions streamed through her head faster than she could remember them, let alone process them. Thousands of images, memories, thoughts, and feelings… anything floating around loose flowed out of Terra and into Raven's soul self, along with fragments of her very essence. Raven saw pieces of the past, present, and future… all at once, flowing chaotically around her as she tried to find something to hold onto in the churning sea of images. Visions manifested themselves before her, always from varying perspectives: sometimes from her own, sometimes from Terra's, sometimes from someone else's that she couldn't identify, and sometimes from no one's… Raven didn't know how she was seeing it, she just was. 

_Terra, crying, running away from a city with a backpack on, chased by hundreds of people with burning torches, her tattered clothing and unkempt hair shaking as she sobbed and ran. A locket with a picture of her with two adults, a man and a woman, fell to the ground…_

_Terra wearing a pair of shorts with a black hoodie, her eyes glowing furiously as she threw stone after stone at a pink haired girl who blasted them out of the way as they came. A shadowy figure with crimson eyes floated above, and Robin pushed Terra out of the way…_

_Terra trapped in the middle of a vortex of stone, swirling around her as the entire cavern shook. Beast Boy was there too, shouting to her from the ground. He lost his hold on the ground and floated up to her…_

_Terra fighting against Cyborg and Robin in hand to hand. She fluidly dodged every blow and struck back with perfect coordination, sending Robin and Cyborg flying backwards. A rock wall came up between Robin and Terra, leaving the shaman and Cyborg alone…_

_Terra standing alone amid falling rocks and machinery, wearing the same black Titan shirt she was now, straining desperately to push against something with her powers…_

_Terra's face just inches away from her, her eyes glowing with fury as she laughed…_

_Terra's first meeting with the Titans on the rock ledge, as she pointed to each of the Titans one by one…_

_Terra and her each pulling on a huge rock with all their might, glaring at each other…_

_Terra encased in some strange armor, embracing Beast Boy as they kissed in the darkness. Her entire body was beginning to glow yellow, and she pushed Beast Boy away, yelling something after him. Terra screamed in pain…_

_Terra sweating heavily, tank top and shorts suggestively sticking to her slim form as she dodged projectiles one after the other, occasionally countering with stones of her own. Off to the side, a shadowy figure was watching…_

_Terra blindsiding Mumbo Jumbo with a huge rock as he ran out of a bank, sending money flying everywhere. The other Titans cheered…_

_Terra, kneeling over Beast Boy on rocks by the ocean, shaking his shoulders as she yelled something at him. Beast Boy slowly got up and started to hug her…_

_Terra, looking around nervously, walked through a gallery of mirrors. Many mirrors distorted her reflections at once, forming gruesome depictions of the beautiful blonde. She called out, and someone stepped towards her from behind. She spun around, hands glowing…_

_Terra knelt on the floor in the middle of Titan Tower and wept, covering her eyes with her hands. She was dressed in the same odd armor. The Titans were gathered around her as she sobbed on the floor, pointing fingers at her and yelling…_

_A final image: A well remembered mask, half orange and half black, with only a single eyehole on the left side. The eye stared mockingly back into Raven's face, tinged with morbid amusement…_

Raven finally snapped out of it, eyes wide and breathing hard. Terra was still running towards the door… all that had happened in just an instant. A hand landed softly on her shoulder, and she almost screamed – she had forgotten Robin was here with her. He looked at her with obvious concern. "Are you alright?"

Raven found the hand on her shoulder so comforting; she was extremely reluctant to let him go. She knew she had to, though. Despite this most recent wave of temptation, she still knew she couldn't control her powers well enough to tell him. Raven didn't bother answering Robin's question: he knew her better than anyone on the team, and more than well enough to see how unsettled she really was. There was no point in trying to hide it… not from him. Instead, she went right to what they both knew was the issue. "Are you sure it's a good idea to have her here?" Raven was annoyed to note that she was sweating, and she brushed a few beads of water off the gray skin of her forehead.

"Not really," Robin answered, releasing his hand from her shoulder with obvious reluctance, "but everyone deserves a second chance." With that, he turned and ran after the rest of the team. Raven stood there thinking and trying to compose herself for a good few seconds before following him.

* * *

"Terra! Help me get in his face!" Robin shouted as he ran towards the cybernetic worm. Terra gladly obliged, eyes pulsing as she ripped huge hunks of pavement and earth free to form platforms that he could use to hop up to the worm. Once he got there, he threw a series of bombs into the machine's mouth. Terra held her breath, waiting for an effect, but the deadly machine shrugged off the hit. Terra sighed… she was beginning to see why the city needed the Titans so badly. 

When the team had arrived, the worm traveling under the city had already revealed itself. They showed up just in time to save a busload of civilians. Terra shuddered – whoever was controlling this device had ordered it to destroy that bus, and if the Titans weren't there to save it, everyone onboard would certainly be dead. She had her suspicions of who was controlling the machine, as did the Titans she was sure.

As the blonde shaman watched the fight unfolding around her, she almost had to laugh at the sheer invulnerability of the machine: The Titans were hitting it with everything they had and the armor wasn't even scratching. Terra decided it was her turn to see what she could do, and yelled with the strain as she pulled a huge chunk of stone free from the bedrock under the street, and willed it towards the worm.

Suddenly, the stone went black, yellow flashes of her power warring with the darkness for control. "Stop it Terra!" Raven yelled at her as she pulled at the rock from the other side, keeping it in place. "It's too dangerous! You could hurt someone!"

Terra snorted indignantly and redoubled her efforts. "I know what I'm doing!" Unfortunately, Terra could see Raven was more than up to the challenge, and her own pull on the rock strengthened as well. The stone began to crack under the intense stress of the game of tug of war.

"Look out!" Robin's yell was Terra's only warning before a crimson beam from the cybernetic worm hit the conflicted rock, causing it to detonate in a blinding flash that knocked down both Raven and Terra. Terra pulled herself off the ground and watched as the worm reared up, then slammed back into the ground, drilling a tunnel into the rock.

Terra and Raven both got up and, after exchanging glares at each other, walked over to Robin as he pulled out his signaling communicator. He opened it, and everyone's suspicious were instantly confirmed by the heterogeneous mask. "Slade," Robin bit out, speaking for all of them.

Not to be taken off guard, Slade responded with an easy tone, "So good to see you again, Robin. Did I call at a bad time?"

Robin wasn't about to play games with this madman. Terra gave a tight grin at their fascinating rivalry. "The worm," he simply bit out. "What are you up to?"

"Why Robin," Slade responded with mocking wounded innocence, "If you're so very curious, why don't you come down here and find out?" Slade signed off and the screen went blank, leaving the Titans staring down into the blackness of the hole.

Robin gestured forward. "Let's go." After just a slight hesitation, everyone followed.

* * *

After walking for about 20 minutes, Cyborg started to get a little antsy. "We're almost 400 meters under sea level! What couldthat thingbe doing down here?" 

Robin answered without bothering to turn and face him, never slowing down as a dark, obsessive anger crept into his voice. "Whatever Slade tells it to."

Terra was only half listening to the conversation in front of her. Her focus was on the blue-cloaked empath walking through the tunnel alongside her. 'Why is Raven so suspicious of me?' She didn't get it. She tried to think of anything she had done since she got return to have pissed the girl off, but came up blank. She could see that Robin valued Raven's opinion highly: If Raven didn't like Terra, the odds of the shaman ever becoming a Titan were slim to none.

'Well, there's nothing for it except for talking to her.' Terra decided, and she turned her head towards the silent girl walking beside her. "Listen, Raven, I'm sorry about that little tug of war we had up there. You know I wouldn't have let anyone get hurt…"

"Whatever," Raven replied, not even looking at her.

'To hell with this, we're having it out right here.' Terra stopped walking and looked towards Raven, who stopped as well and turned to face the shaman. "Look, I don't know what your problem is, but _get over it_. If I'm going to be a member of this team, we're going to need to be able to trust each…"

"You're NOT a member of this team," Raven snapped at her, "not yet. And if you endanger my friends again, I'll insure you never will be. So. The next time I tell you something is too dangerous… TAKE MY WORD FOR IT!" she ended, her voice rising to a yell as her eyes briefly pulsed red. Raven stormed off after Robin and Cyborg, leaving Terra and Beast Boy alone.

"Ummm…" Terra started, turning to BB, "why does she hate me?"

BB just shrugged noncommittally. "Eh. She kinda hates everyone. Raven… just needs to get used to you." Beast Boy paused and smiled at Terra. "I think she's still getting used to me." Terra returned the smile, and they continued onward.

The team soon arrived in a large, open cavern underground. The Titans looked around, but no one could see a way out in the green light of Starfire's star bolt. "It's a dead end!" Terra exclaimed.

"Not exactly," Robin said, pointing some sensor at a wall. "I'm picking up a signal deep in this rock."

Cyborg walked up and pointed his more sensitive sensors at the wall. "Way deep. Machinery... and a heart beat."

Robin spoke all of their thoughts. "Slade."

Terra raised her hands and they began to glow as she willed her power to activation. "Then let's dig down there and get hi..." Terra was interrupted by another earthquake, and all the Titans started backpedaling to keep their balance. Terra noticed Raven glaring at her from under her hood and sighed. "Are you going to give me that look _every time there's an earthquake?_"

Raven opened her mouth to snap out some undoubtedly biting and witty response, but she was interrupted by a drilling worm erupting from the ground... followed by two more of them. "Titans! Ready!" Robin yelled, and the team grouped up in a loose ring between the three mechs, weapons at the ready. The worms lunged towards one of the walls and left as quickly as they came.

Beast Boy stared after them. "Hellooooo!" he yelled, waving his arms, "Good guys are back _here!_" He turned back to the group. "Why are they going?"

"Because we are not the targets..." Starfire answered dolefully.

Cyborg turned to Robin. "Three of those things could take out any target in the city!"

"We need to stop them!" Terra agreed.

"We need to stop Slade," Raven pointed out from under her cowl.

Robin paused for a second before answering. "Alright. Cyborg, take Starfire and Beast Boy and stop those worms! Terra, Raven? We're going after Slade."

Cyborg pumped his fist into his palm. "Titans! Let's move!"

As the three Titans ran off, Terra turned to Robin. "You know, we really don't need her help," she said, inclining her head towards Raven. "I can handle..."

"No," Robin responded, his tone leaving no room for argument. "Raven is almost as good at moving earth as you, and we need this done."

Terra wasn't sure, but she thought Raven might have smirked under her cloak. "Nice try," the empath deadpanned. Shrugging, Terra turned to the wall.

"Alright, we need a tunnel about 500 meters south, three degrees down."

"No problem," Terra responded, and a golden ray of energy shot from her hands to the wall, moving stone aside as they met. A short chant later, Raven's dark energy joined it.

As Terra's beam hit the stone, Terra transformed it to small dust and moved it out of the way. Raven's method was more crude, but equally effective. Whenever her dark energy contacted the stone around her, the weak substance vaporized under the force. Together, the two made excellent progress through the stone.

Finally, Terra's beam broke though to a well-lit chamber. It looked like a mineshaft. Above them, there was this giant green thing spinning in mid air, and as they watched red beams of destructive light shot upwards from the drill towards the rock at the top of the chamber.

Robin rushed towards the peanut computer (computer with a 3D hologram screen being projected... yes, they actually exist) in the center of the room, and Raven and Terra followed. There was a projection of the drills circling above... and high above them, Terra could see another drill circling above the surface. Suddenly, Robin's communicator went off, and Cyborg's concerned voice came through. "Robin! The target is Titan Tower! Titan Tower is under attack!

* * *

"It's not just under attack... it's about to be underground." Robin said, disbelievingly. 'Two drills... one going up and one going down. If either breaks through, the tower is finished. "Titans, hit it with everything!" 

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven's beautiful eyes lit up with white light as bolt after bolt of destructive emotional energy shot from her fingertips to the drill. Robin threw explosive projectiles against the green armor, and even as he watched, rocks detached from the walls and smashed into the machine. Robin looked up hopefully, but when the smoke from the devastating volley cleared, the drill was unaffected. 'Not even a scratch...'

He ran back to the side of the computer, rapidly typing at a keyboard. "We have to stop it! I'm going to hack into the computer.. You two..." Robin looked up just in time to see Slade leap through the holographic screen in a flying kick. Robin hastily threw up a block, but still went flying backwards. As he flipped back with the force of the kick, drawing his staff to match Slade's.

Robin continued backpedaling frantically, desperately dodging and blocking until he felt himself enter an elevator. Looking over Slade's shoulder, Robin saw Raven and Terra rushing to help him. "Forget about me! Stop the drill!"

"That's right, Robin," Slade mocked him as he slapped the up button on the wall. "Now I have you all to myself." Slade charged, and Robin braced for the fight of his life.

* * *

Terra turned to the dark girl beside her. "So, I guess it's just you and me now." 

Raven ignored her and ran back to the computer Robin had been working on. "We need to hack into the system. It's the only way to stop that drill."

Terra disagreed. It would be better if they just destroyed the computer. That way, they'd stop the drill immediately. "Why hack when you can smash?" she asked as her eyes started to glow, and she brought a huge stone free from the wall.

"NO!" Raven yelled, throwing her soul self over the rock, freezing it in place. For the second time since she had returned, the two girls were locked in a battle of tug-of-war. "Destroy the computer and we might never stop it!"

"Or we might stop it sooner!" Terra redoubled her efforts, but found Raven's magic an easy match. "Why can't you just _trust me!_"

"Trust _you?"_ Raven said with a snort, her eyes narrowing. Terra could have sworn they were glowing red for a moment. "How am I supposed to trust _you!_ I might be the most dangerous person on this planet to myself and to my friends... I have to meditate every day to keep my powers under control. It takes years to gain control over my powers. _You didn't just suddenly gain control over yours!_" Terra averted her eyes, looking down in shame. She was, of course, right. "Trust isn't something you can just get. You need to earn it."

"How! How can I earn your trust!"

"You can start by trusting me!"

Terra lowered her hands and let her control over the rock fade away. "O.k.," she conceded, dropping the stone and hurrying over to Raven. Suddenly, Raven tackled her backwards just as a falling stone from the drilling above smashed down onto where they were standing, smashing the computer into pieces. The two teens heard an ominous whirling above them, and the drill sped up considerably. Terra turned to the empath beside her. "Ok... so maybe smashing the computer really was a bad idea..."

* * *

Raven got up and looked sadly up at the ceiling. 'Sorry Robin. I failed...' She could sense the second the drill broke through. The ceiling began to collapse as Robin landed on the ground by her. "Slade?" she asked. 

Robin shook his head. "Vanished."

"Let's get out of here. There's nothing else we can do." Raven prepared to teleport them out, but noticed Terra wasn't with them.

"Like hell there isn't," the blonde shaman said as her eyes lit up with energy. Golden rays of shamanistic power jumped from her glowing palms and pushed back against the falling ceiling. The straining teen was putting everything she had into bearing the weight of the world itself. Raven wasn't about to let Terra struggle alone.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Raven shouted her mantra as she ran over to Terra's side, throwing her soul self into levitating the earth above her. Slowly, painfully, the platform started to move back upward. Raven smiled.

* * *

"So, friends?" Terra asked the moody walking through the tower with her. 

"Close enough," Raven answered as they walked, giving what might have been a small smile beneath her hood.

"I'm sorry we kinda got off to a little bit of a bad start..."

This time, Terra could see that Raven clearly DID smile. "Actually, I thought that went pretty well. It took me a year to stop hating Beast Boy." As she spoke, Raven was opening a keypad lock on a door. When it was opened, the room inside was pitch black. Terra couldn't see a thing.

"SURPRISE!"

Terra looked around in the suddenly bright light. The other four Titans were standing in the middle of the room, smiling at her. The room itself was nothing less than spectacular as far as Terra was concerned. All the furniture was done is pale beige fabric, and the wallpaper was a shade of tan with a visible sandy texture. It was obviously supposed to look desert like, and the effect worked beautifully. The ceiling outdid every else, though. A vast star scape literally covered the entire ceiling, giving the impression of staring up at the night sky. The room was obviously for her.

"Welcome to your new room, Terra!" Beast Boy said energetically, his smile widening further as her eyes lit up.

Terra couldn't believe this. 'They did all of this… for me?' Never in a hundred years would… the teen shaman banished that thought immediately. 'I must not think of that.' The implications of this redecoration were just starting to hit her. "So… does this mean I'm…"

"A Teen Titan!" Robin said, holding out his hand to her. "Welcome to the team."

Terra happily accepted his hand, and pulled him into a quick hug. Her smile was practically glowing as she looked around at her new teammates, and they returned the smile. Cyborg was the first to break the silence. "A celebration like this can only mean one thing… WAFFLES!" he exclaimed enthusiastically, heading for the door. "I'll cook!"

The other Titans started heading after Cyborg, but Beast Boy stayed with Terra. "Make sure they're tofu waffles!" he yelled after the mechanical man, but ignored Cyborg's unintelligible but gruff sounding response. "I'm glad you're here to stay, Terra," he said, looking awkward. "I'm… really glad to see you again."

Terra smiled at him, and his eyes took on a far away look. Terra thought it looked extremely cute. "I'm glad to see you again too, BB," she admitted. "Really glad." While he seemed to digest that, she spoke again. "I'm just going to go and get changed. Go with the others, I'll be out in a minute."

Beast Boy left with one smile backwards, and as the door shut behind him, Terra breathed a sigh of relief. "I can't believe it," she whispered to herself as she stared down and the palms of her hands. "They actually trust me…" Terra flipped her hair idly, and it fell back over her face, completely covering her right eye. Annoyed, she brushed it out of the way and went to change.

* * *

That night, Raven was alone in her room and trying to sleep. Her mind was too busy to sleep, however… she couldn't rest while her brain was still whirling in circles. She found herself relatively happy to have Terra back. The girl saved her home, after all. Despite that, though, Raven wasn't sure whether to trust the shaman. The slim blonde girl seemed perfectly innocent, but her sudden control over her powers bothered Raven more than a little. Something about still didn't seem quite right. 

'And then there is my vision.'

Raven sighed. There was that, all right. A series of very disturbing images had gone through her head today, and all of them involved Terra. Going by some of those images, Terra seemed dangerous. Unfortunately, it wasn't that simple. Raven was knowledgeable to know that a vision of the future is only one of many possible futures. The future could subject to change, and not everything was predetermined. 'There is a divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will…' Just how much of that vision was predetermined was the question.

Raven though again of her own experience with the Justice League. She had been turned out simply because of the danger she might represent. How was Terra any different? 'How would I be any different if I turn her away?' Finally, Robin's words to her echoed through her, 'everyone deserves a second chance.'

Robin… the thought of him caused its own set of problems. She still hadn't really talked to him about what had happened yesterday… she was still avoiding him. Perhaps Terra could help?

Maybe. Raven finally fell into a deep sleep, and forgot all about Slade, Terra, and her visions.

* * *

End Chapter 17

* * *

A/N So, Terra's back now. The question is: what happened to Terra while she was away? Did Slade find her? Or is the future as Starfire saw it on course? 

**NEXT CHAPTER ON MONDAY! **

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

Everyone's questions on Terra are answered  
- Slade returns to the action directly  
- Terra is a traitor...

Next Episode: Betrayal

...The only question is... who is betrayed?


	19. Betrayal

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

_**A/N**_  
**First of all...** I'm REALLY sorry for how late this is... I just got back internet today. My mom forgot to pay the cable bill... go figure.  
**SECONDLY: A WARNING -** This episode is considerably more violent than any episode that came before. This is one of the reasons I moved up to an M rating, because this chapter probably deserves it (at least mildly, anyway). **  
Third,** this is probably the most heavily edited episode I've done… while the basic structure of the episode remains the same, it's only the frame that remains intact: I've gutted the show's version of the episode and replaced it completely with my own variation. I hope you like it… this is MY idea of Terra/BB

**NEXT CHAPTER UP NEXT WEDNESDAY... AND I MEAN IT THIS TIME!**

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 18 - Betrayal

* * *

Terra slid the door shut silently behind her. The clock on the wall said it was three in the morning as she left Beast Boy's room. Being with him made her so happy… she couldn't believe they had only been going out a month. She felt as though she had known him forever.

Quietly, Terra slinked through the darkened tower, back to her own room. Even the slight scraping of her shoes against the metal floor seemed deafeningly loud to her – lightning cracks in the dead silence of a tomb. When she finally reached the room her friends had so generously provided for her, she slipped inside and shut the door, leaning back against the door in relief. Terra finally released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

Terra sat on her bed and activated her computer. Almost immediately, the system prompted for her password. Terra ignored it, but instead hit and held the 'alt' key. After five seconds, a second prompt came up, and the shaman entered 'Ophelia' as the user. She shook her head: such a twisted sense of humor her arrogant teacher had. The screen went blank, and then another small window came up, asking her for the system function she wanted to access.

Terra typed rapidly. 'Judas Contract.'

The computer quickly beeped, and the screen went black while the command was processed. The fan inside the computer started spinning rapidly as it attempted to load the secured section of the programming.

Finally, a small window popped up. 'Judas Contract Online. Contact 7. Run Program? y/n.'

'y.'

A text window like an email processor popped up... The method was primitive, but almost undetectable by any system sweep. Resigning herself to what she was about to do, Terra began to type.

**'Raven – Still no insight into origins or heritage: subject avoid the topic whenever asked, either leaving or changing the discussion. In terms of threat to a mission, Raven is the number one danger. Most likely weakness remains her emotions, specifically anger.'**

Terra knew all about Raven's empathy and its incredible power, but also its weakness that forced the teen to meditate for hours every day. When Raven allowed emotions too much control over her, they could literally grab control of her powers and her body. Anger was most likely to do so, she knew. Whenever Raven got angry, her power increased exponentially, but she lost most of her ability to consciously think, plan, or strategize. With a proper plan, this could make her very easy to take down when angry.

'**Most likely way to attack subject's weakness remains through Robin.'**

Terra had become one of Raven's best friends in the last few weeks, as Terra, Raven, and Starfire would go places together, leaving the boys alone to have some time together. Terra noticed Raven had been avoiding Robin, and asked her about it one time at the mall. Raven had rather frantically looked over at Starfire, but saw only a knowing smile. Eventually, the two of them managed to beat the confession out of her that she cared for Robin a lot. She just couldn't risk hurting him with her lack of control. Terra hadn't told another Titans Raven's secret, and to her knowledge Starfire had kept silent as well. Terra pushed the memories away and continued typing.

'**Robin – I have made no progress in discovering the target's identity or origins. Beyond his training with Batman, subject refuses to speak about his childhood, training, or personal life. Ranked as threats to a mission, subject ranks a close second. No new weaknesses have been discovered, but his hatred for Slade and his confusion over Raven are still ripe for exploitation' **

**'Cyborg – Success! Subject has confided in me his true name and origins. He was build by his father, a genius inventor (now deceased), after Victor Stone suffered fatal injuries during high school. Ranked as threats to a mission, subject ranks third. A new weakness has been discovered – besides his reliance on energy cells for power and his vulnerability to a computer attack, he seems to have some feelings for a former student of H.I.V.E. Academy, code named Jynx. The girl's real identity and whereabouts are unknown.' **

Terra had never met Jynx, but she knew of the girl by reputation. She was supposed to be a fantastically dangerous criminal who had led an assault that almost obliterated the Titans. How Cyborg came to think of the witch as anything more than an enemy was unknown, as he refused to ever speak on the matter. The blonde teen had only discovered his feelings by observations of what subjects he was avoiding, then putting pieces together.

**'Starfire – There is little left to discover about the alien Koriand'r. Subject is so trusting; learning any information from her is as simple as asking. Ranked as threats to a mission, Starfire ranks fourth. Her weakness of trust and naiveté remains clear and easy to use.' **

Finally, Terra came to Beast Boy and paused. Her boyfriend… the beautiful blonde was tormented inside by her conflicting thoughts and feelings. Terra made her decision and resumed typing.

**'Beast Boy –' **Real name Garfield Logan '**Subject has yet to confide any information on his identity or origins.' The Titans is simply carefree,' **handsome,**'simpleminded,' **funny and lovably, **'and not very skilled in the use of his abilities. It appears that subject can morph into anything he has' **seen **'touched. Subject is of virtually no threat. No real weakness has been discovered' **except for his feelings for me.

**'Security Grid Deactivation Code: Anubis. Key to Cyborg's activation frequency 58eds47k3.'**

**'End Transmission.' **

Terra pressed the send button, and the screen went black as the computer responded to the command. As she watched, a brief response popped up in a tiny window, and disappeared almost the second Terra finished reading it. 'Good work, Apprentice. Attack is tomorrow, 12:00 AM.'

Terra's heart sank. 'So that's it…' she thought, 'I'm done…' Terra didn't want this time with the Titans to end. It might only be a forgery, but it was the only time Terra truly felt as though she was loved in her life. Slowly, Terra lay back on her bed and drifted off to sleep, thoughts of Beast Boy running through her mind.

The next day, the blonde shaman was a wreck. She was constantly nervous that one of the Titans would learn of her betrayal. Trust, she was learning, was more addictive than heroin, cocaine, or even something as insipid as love. The more of it Terra got, the move she craved to keep it. Staying at the Titans Tower, she was an addict receiving her daily fix from her trusting friends who valued her both as a team member and a real person.

Now, Terra was going into withdrawal. She was about to be completely removed from her drug of choice by damming it at the source. She had betrayed the Teen Titans, her team, her friends, and now she had to face to consequences of it: Losing everyone's trust… including that of the person she valued the most.

* * *

Beast Boy lay in his bed that night, unable to sleep. Terra had been acting really strangely today... she hadn't seemed herself. Several hours ago, she had pleaded sick and chose not to go out for pizza with everyone else, and had just locked herself in her room. 

He hadn't even been able to really speak to his girlfriend since they had fallen asleep in each other's arms last night. As always, he had woken up to find her gone. It hurt him terribly, but he understood that she desired to hide how much they shared with one another, even if he didn't understand the reason for her insecurity. He truly loved the slim, beautiful Titan, and she loved him. He would do anything for her.

Suddenly, something knocked on his window. Beast Boy got up and pulled back the drapes, revealing Terra floating on a stone platform just outside. She smiled at him, and beckoned. He glanced at the clock - 10:39. BB opened the window and looked out at her. "Terra?"

"Hey hon. Wanna go somewhere?"

Beast Boy was confused. This seemed surreal... like it wasn't happening to him. The strangeness of the situation was enough to give him pause, even as a supernatural hero. "Huh?"

Terra again gestured for him to step out of the window and come to her. Her face seemed full of some unrecognizable emotion... she seemed desperate to get him to come with her. "You know... a real date." She smiled at him. "With our duties as Titans, we haven't really had a chance to get away and _do_ something together. Nothing's going to happen tonight... lets go out and enjoy ourselves."

BB cocked his head at his girl friend. "You know Robin won't be happy if he finds out..."

Terra's blue eyes met his fearlessly. "Don't you trust me?"

Garfield Logan smiled at her. "More than anything, Terra." He stepped onto the platform and they were gone.

"Hungry?"

"Always."

* * *

Robin awoke with a start, the loud bang echoing in his ears. 'That sounded like an explosion...' Robin glanced at the clock as he snapped his belt on over his sleeping cloths. His mask was still on, at least... he rarely removed it anymore. The Tower's alarm started blaring as he ran through the hallway, and several figures rushed him from the darkness. 

Robin had no time to think: he just reacted.The martial artistflipped up in the air, clear over the first attacking figure. As he spun by in the air, he extended his staff and pushed against the wall, throwing himself into a horizontal rotation as he completed his flip. As he vertically righted himself behind his assailant, he continued his spinning rotation, rotating on the ball of his right foot the instant he landed and smashed the back of the figures head with a kick, adding to his forward momentum and sending him toppling forward. Robin didn't stop his spin after the kick, bringing his foot back down to maintain his balance as he came about, slashing out with his staff at eye level.

Robin had correctly anticipated that the second attacker would try to attack his back, and the blow connected heavily against his face with all the centripetal momentum behind it. Robin could hear something shattering under the blow, and dearly hoped it wasn't lethal. He didn't have time to worry about either the cracking or the heavy blow, though, because in his peripheral vision he saw the first figure rising, bringing something in its hand to bear against him.

Robin shot his legs apart, falling into a combat crouch and throwing a birdarang just as a red beam shot over his head. The thrown weapon smashed into the attacker's chest, and Robin could see electricity from circuits sparkle in the dark. Robin gasped: Everything suddenly came rushing back to him, and everything was clear... the heavy impacts, the red laser gun, the loud crack, and now the electricity. As the current shot up the attackers' body, its face started to be illuminated, but Robin already knew what he was going to see: A robot with a white face.

A Slade bot. And it was inside Titan Tower. In the distance, Robin could hear more laser blasts and the sonic boom he associated with Cyborg's cannon.

And it had brought friends.

* * *

"When you said you wanted us to get away some place, I didn't think you meant _this_ far away." 

Terra had taken him to the outskirts of Gotham City, to a diner she knew about. She walked into the bar and past the pool tables and tables to sit up at the "bar." "Yeah... I used to eat here all the time. I've been all over the place, but I usually came back here eventually." Beast Boy had to admit: it was a pretty well kept up place for an old diner. The smoke and noise from the pool tables was actually quite minimal, and the mirror behind the bar made it easy to see the entire restaurant from anywhere.

Garfield followed her and sat down on the stool next to her, picking up a menu. "So... what's to eat?" He flipped through it, but grew more and more frantic as he went. 'Meat meat meat meatmeat meatmeat meatmeatmeatmeatme...'

"Two orders of theapple pie, please." Terra ordered for both of them. The host behind the bar rushed off to complete their orders.

"So, Terra," Gar started, "What made you decide to do this tonight?"

Terra appeared startled at his question, but he chalked it up to surprise at the sudden speech breaking the silence. "I don't know... I was just thinking about you and realized we had never really been able to do anything, so I figured we ought to go out."

Garfield wasn't convinced. It seemed like something was... _off _with Terra today and he figured that whatever it was had led to this. "Are you sure that nothing was wrong today?"

"Yeah, I'm fine… why d…" the attendant interrupted her by arriving with two slices of pie, and set them before the couple. "Oh, thank you."

Gar was slightly upset at how easy his question had been dodged, but didn't let it worry him; After all, this was _Terra_. If it were important, she would tell him. He turned back to his food and took a bite of the pie she had ordered, and then froze in shock as soon as it touched his taste buds. "This… is the greatest pie… in the history… of pies…"

Terra laughed, looking at her boyfriend as he hungrily ate his pie. "Yeah, I knew you'd like that," she said absentmindedly as she ate herself, her eyes never leaving Garfield. Slowly, she turned to face forward, looking down at her plate as she ate. "There's this place outside of Steel City that makes the greatestcherry pie I've ever tasted, but for apple this place is…"

Terra broke off with a quiet gasp, and BB looked up at her as she quickly spun around in her seat, facing the rest of the room and scanning it. "Something wrong?"

"Thought I saw someone." Terra slapped some money down on the counter. "Finish your pie and c'mon… I know someplace else you have to see."

* * *

"Would_someone_ like to explain to me how two hundred armed robots got past_my _security system?" 

Cyborg and Starfire were covering the hallway from the door at its end, the only cover available; as it seemed like every mech in Slade's army was trying to force their way through. Starfire popped out briefly, spraying starbolts randomly down the hall before pressing her back against the wall beside the door and answering. "I do not know, friend. I only know that there are too many to oppose…"

Robin was leaning against the wall beside Cyborg, feeling helpless. In melee, he could help his team fight the bots. In a shooting gallery like this, all his bombs and gizmos were next to useless, and he would be slaughtered if he stepped out there. "We need help from the rest of our team. Once we get BB and Terra out here…"

As if Robin's voice was a signal, the floor near them went black and Raven phased up from below. She turned to Robin, her voice unusually tense. "I can't find either Beast Boy or Terra. Neither is in their rooms, and neither responds to their communicators."

"What's the plan, Robin?" Cyborg asked as he fired a few sonic blasts down the hallway before taking cover again, barely getting out ahead of the first red streaks of energy.

"Raven, when I give the word, I want you to throw up a small shield of energy up in front of the door for three seconds, then drop it. Block off all sight and stop those guns… got it?"

"Got it," the empath replied, her voice grim with determination as her eyes and hands lit up.

Robin extended his staff and gripped several exploding birdarangs between the fingers of his right hand. "Do it Raven. Titans, GO!"

* * *

"An amusement park! Man, you know how to party, Terra!" Garfield was having the time of his life. He got to spend time with his beautiful girlfriend, all by themselves... and as an added benefit, Terra was taking him on roller coasters! 

"Yeah," Terra replied distractedly, staring off into the night sky. "Before I met you, I used to wander all over the place... but I'd always return here. I guess you could say it's the closest thing I've had to a home..."

"Except Titan Tower, you mean," Gar corrected.

"Yeah..." Terra mumbled. She suddenly stopped looking off at the sky and turned to her date. "Come on, Gar. Let's go on some rides."

* * *

Raven threw up a shielding black disk right in front of her just as a volley of red energy blasts impacted against it. The force of the energy still blew her backwards, and she slammed into the wall hard, her head whipping back and smashing hard against the plaster, and then she slipped down to the floor. She coughed, and a spray of red coasted the floor in front of her. 

Raven rolled rapidly to the side as one of the bot's feet tried to crush her head. Her eyes pulsed red briefly as she gathered vicious points of dark energy on her fingertips. "Get _away_ _from me!_" she growled, flinging hundreds of tiny black darts at her assailant. Detonations rippled throughout its mangled circuitry, and it went down. Raven glanced over, and saw Starfire surrounded by seven or eight bots as they slowly closed in on her. Rubbing her neck, the demoness gritted her teeth against the pain and ran towards her friend. 'If we're going to die tonight, we sure as hell aren't going to make it easy for Slade.'

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

* * *

'They're probably all dead by now... what have I done...' 

Terra sat in a cart on the Farris wheel with Garfield holding her in his arms, rocking her back and forth. Guilt was consuming her, although she tried to convince herself that there was nothing she could do. 'At least I managed to save him...' she thought to herself. Terra fully intended to run away, escape this life of horror she'd built herself, and never look back. Garfield... would understand. 'He has to!' she convinced herself, 'I had no choice!'

"Gar?" the blond shaman asked, turning her face to meet her lover's eyes, just centimeters away.

"Yes, Terra?"

"Do you really love me?"

He looked a little stunned at the question, like the answer was obvious. "Of course I do Terra..."

"No, I mean, do you _really_ love me... because if you did, I could tell you anything, and you would still love me... no matter what I did... right?"

He was extremely confused now, and looking distinctly worried. "Terra... _what's wrong?_"

"Yes... What _is_ the matter, Terra?"

The smooth, sinister, hauntingly familiar voice came from the corner of the shared cart on the wheel. Terra started at the voice, and both she and Gar spun towards the shadows. Slade sat on the bench opposite the young lovers, half cloaked in the darkness. How he managed to get there without either of them noticing was beyond her. "Hello, kid. Remember me?" With a stunningly fast motion, too quick for the eye to track, Slade grabbed Gar by the cuff of his uniform and threw him out the door, knocking it from its hinges by the process.

With a sinister look in his eye, Slade turned back to a cowered Terra, curling up stunned in a corner. "Now Terra... did you really think you could just take your little boyfriend and run?" he mocked, amusedly. "Just escape, and everything would be just fine?"

"Get away from her!" Garfield flipped up through the door and became a tiger, pouncing towards the criminal mastermind. Slade rolled sideways in the tight space, ending up back in line to the door. Gar was suddenly a cobra, lashing out at Slade's extended leg. Slade was too quick for even a striking snake, and he grabbed the edge of the roof through the door and used the leverage to flip himself upward, out of the tight cart. As Terra watched, Gar followed.

* * *

Garfield Logan was terrified to be fighting Slade alone, but was so enraged he barely noticed. As he leapt up onto the roof, he was already returning to tiger form and pouncing as the masked form. Slade back flipped onto the next cart up, and the shape shifter followed him. The combatants circled for a moment, and the masked criminal slowly extended his quarterstaff. Then Gar struck. This time, Slade caught the strike on his staff and held him up, supporting his vast weight with ease. Slade threw him backwards, back onto the cart where Terra was now watching. 

'You are not getting rid of me that easily,' he thought, looking at his love below him. 'No matter what he has planned, I am _not_ going to let you have her.' Garfield transformed to his giant ape form, and charged Slade.

Slade jumped onto the scaffolding supporting the Farris wheel, and Gar chased after him, entering a cat and mouse game of climbing as they scaled the frame. When his quarry finally pulled himself up onto the "roof" of the scaffolding, he followed. Slade quickly sidestepped out of the way and slipped around behind him. In a fantastic display of strength, Slade put the gorilla in a headlock and forced him to the ground.

Garfield was stunned, and for the first time since the fight started he began to feel real fear. 'Not even Star can do that... Cyborg would struggle to pin a gorilla!' He was realizing just how badly he was outclassed.

"You think you know Terra?" Slade whispered in his ear, "You know nothing about her. She never even liked you!" Gar's eyes narrowed, and he launched himself upwards, throwing Slade off of him. He was suddenly a hawk, diving towards Slade with all his might. As he got close, he transformed into a lion, jaws open as he sped towards Slade. Slade stepped forward, grabbed him by the mane, and slammed him to the ground. Gar was expecting this. By the time he hit the ground, he had already completed his next shift. As a crocodile, Gar spun around, tail lashing Slade and sweeping him off his feet.

Unfortunately, Slade wasn't caught completely off guard. As he fell, Slade first kicked Garfield's side with incredible strength, and he was sent flying over the edge of the platform.

Terra caught her lover as he fell, floating on a platform next to the fight. "Come on!" she yelled at him, "We need to get out of here!" Shooting one last glance at Slade's imposing figure, Terra fled with her lover.

* * *

"Robin, DUCK!" 

Robin heard Raven's warning just in time, and reacted instantly. He threw himself flat to the ground just as a robot charged over him with a makeshift lance, kicking Robin as it passed. The Titan leader rolled with the kick, using its momentum to help him rise to his feet. Robin reached down to his belt for a birdarang to throw at the passing bot, but it was just so much wasted habit: He was long since out of his projectiles. The bot started to turn about for another pass.

A blast lance of energy pierced the turning bot through its core, causing it to detonate instantly. Robin turned and saw the blue cloaked empath with her hands extended towards the defunct bot, down on her knees. Blood from numerous cuts covered her face, and her cape hung in tatters and seemed more purple than blue. Robin ran over to the injured teen, helping her to her feet. As he held her hands, blood appeared on them and he realized it must be his own. His pain was incredible, but he just tuned it out.

Their eyes met, and they asked and answered questions that didn't need to be spoken. They'd both live. Unfortunately, new metal footsteps let thepair of Titans know they had been found.Another pack of bots, at least 8, entered through a hole in the wall. The almost-couple went to ready positions, back to back. Robin fervently wished he still had his staff, but they both were long since broken. Slowly, the bots fanned out, encircling the two Titans, and they slowly closed in. Robin clenched his fists, and prepared to die.

"Raven..."

"Yes?" the empath tersely answered.

Robin was nervous, but figured it wouldn't matter for more than five minutes anyway. Besides, she deserved to know. "I think it's important for you to know that I l..."

The bot immediately in front of him, in line with the hole in the wall, detonated in a brilliant green flash. Starfire! As the bots started to shift to react to this new threat, Robin and Raven attacked. Robin hit the bot immediately to his left as it turned, gripping it by the head and turning it sharply. The circuitry tore, and it deactivated. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Raven rip the floor up under a bot, taking its balance and ability to dodge before smiting it with a dark blast of cackling energy. Two more bots blew in brilliant fireballs as starbolts hit them as they tried to find their new assailant. Suddenly, the odds were three on three, and the tides had turned badly.

The three bots leapt towards Raven, and she threw a shield in front of them. They rolled in circles, going around the shield to attack. Robin met one with a series of vicious blows as it passed by him, and Raven hit a second with a scything blade of darkness... but the third was now behind the shield and out of Star's line of sight. "Raven!" Robin screamed, but he could only watch in horror as it flew towards the woman he loved, blade in hand.

At the last possible instant, a blue blast came through a wall, impacted against it from the side, throwing it through the opposite wall. Cyborg walked through the hole his cannon had made, pushing through the wall itself in an odd display of apathy. Robin finally got a look at Cyborg and Star, and they weren't in much better shape than he and Raven. Star was covered with bruises and cuts, and Cyborg's circuitry had visible currents cackling through broken connections. He glanced down at his wrist pad. "That's it," he said with an unusually sober voice, "Tower's clear."

* * *

Terra ran through the funhouse, trying to support Gar on her shoulder as they moved. Garfield stumbled along, but his side still glowed with pain from the kick. Terra ducked down into a supply closet, letting her love onto the ground. "I'm sorry, Garfield." she said, her eyes tearing up. "I'll keep him away from you." 

"Terra... don't go..." he groaned weakly, but she was gone.

Minutes pass in silence. It was so quiet, the beating of his heart was deafeningly loud. It reverberated in his head, echoing in the dead silence. "Terra..." he whispered to himself. 'I have to help her...'

Garfield rose to his feet, noting that his side didn't hurt as much anymore. He ran out into the funhouse. Mirrors... nothing but mirrors. Garfield wandered until he saw Terra, facing away from him, hands glowing. "Terra!" he called out, and the figure turned towards him, blue eyes widening as he ran towards him. "Terra! I'm so glad you're..." His hand touched the silvery surface of a mirror. "Terra! Where are you? We need to get back to the tower…"

Terra's voice called out to him, though he couldn't tell from where. "Garfield… I can't go back."

"Why not?" he responded frantically, spinning in circles as he looked for the real Terra in this maze of mirrors.

"Because she's not your friend."

Garfield turned around quickly, and saw about 12 reflections of Slade staring back at him. He still couldn't see Terra anywhere, although another reflection of her did appear.

Slade continued his monologue. "The girl you thought you knew was just an illusion… a hopeful fantasy. In reality, she works for me."

"LIAR!" He spun around, sending his fist smashing into an image of Slade and shattering it into thousands of glass shards. As Slade continued his self-important tirade, Gar continued to smash mirrors.

"I found her. I trained her. And I sent her back to you to become a Titan. To _destroy_ the Titans." He laughed wickedly, sinisterly. "By now, you're probably the last Titan. Your friends should already be dead."

"Impossible!" All the mirrors but one were smashed now, leaving just a single image of Slade still glaring at him as his litany of bragging went on.

"Oh yes, I'm afraid it's so. Tonight, Terra's orders were to strike. I guess she took pity on you… perhaps she wanted a pet." Slade laughed again before continuing. "Despite this error in judgment, however… she was still kind enough to deactivate the Tower's security system. Your friends were just attacked by a legion of my finest servants. They are quite dead."

"NEVER!"

"Gar… it's the truth." Terra's ashamed voice spoke out over the Titan's heavy breathing. He finally turned to the voice and found Slade and Terra standing side to side behind a broken mirror. She couldn't stand to even look at him… instead she looked at the floor.

Beast Boy was stunned, and practically felt his heart shatter instantly into a million pieces. "Terra… why?"

Slade chuckled and rested a hand on his apprentice's shoulder. "Because you could never give her what she needs." With a roar of fury, Beast Boy charged him, slipping into a Bengal Tiger as he ran. Slade caught the pounce with his bare hands, slamming him back to the ground behind him. In the same motion, he drew the laser pistol off of his belt and fired. The Titan unmorphed and lay motionless on the ground, stunned.

* * *

Slade aimed the gun at his head and chuckled before he heard Terra begin gathering her powers behind him. "No! I won't let you hurt my friend…" 

"My dear child, you don't have any friends." Slade turned back to the fallen Beast Boy just in time to see a full-grown Grizzly Bear slashing at him. He took the slash to the face, tearing part of his mask away. While her lover and her master fought for their lives, Terra turned and ran away, as fast as she could.

Without warning, Terra saw her own reflection appear in front of her. She gasped and turned away, but all around her, there were nothing but reflections. It was as though Terra was looking into her own soul… and finding herself sorely lacking. She fell to her knees and cried. "Gar… I'm so sorry… I never wanted any of this to happen."

"Then why did you let it!" a familiar, accusing voice called out from behind her. Terra slowly turned to see her lover standing there, eyes narrow as he looked upon the fallen Titan.

"I don't know!" she cried out as she rose to her feet. "Slade… helped me. Said I owed him. Told me I had to…"

"So it was all a game?" Beast Boy said, eyes hard as they bored into her. "You were just _pretending!"_ His voice grew steadily louder and louder as he want up, but remained coldly in control.

"No…" she protested feebly. "You promised that you'd always love me, no matter what… remember?"

Beast Boy turned away from the traitor in disgust. "Slade was right, Terra. You don't have any friends." He walked out without a backwards glance.

* * *

Raven couldn't meditate. Physical pain was certainly a factor for her inability to completely concentrate: Her entire body was still covered with cuts and bruises. She had cleaned the blood from her wounds, but the pain was difficult to suppress, even for someone with her powers. Her body was cloaked in the vague blue glow of her healing powers, but she knew they would still take time to heal. 

More important to Raven's inability to meditate was her emotional state. Terra had betrayed her. She had trusted Terra... _trusted_ her. Raven thought about every her _friend_ knew about her and the other Titans... everything she had _told_ her. Terra knew almost as much about her as Robin, and now Slade knew it all. Slade knew it all... about everyone.

Terra had given Slade more than the tower's security codes and the cameras they had removed... she had given Slade them... every strength, every weakness.

Raven had another reason for not being able to meditate. Her empathy was catching all of the emotion just rolling off of the other Titans, whether she wanted to see their thoughts or not. Everyone shared a similar feeling of loss as her... but Beast Boy's was far deeper. Terra must have gotten far closer to him than Raven had thought, and she cursed the traitor for it. Beast Boy was shattered, waves of hurt and loneliness and betrayal came off of him, crashing into the sensitive demoness like the surf breaking on the rocks.

Raven shuddered and again tried to focus her thoughts and sink into the blissful oblivion of meditation. "Poor Beast Boy..."

* * *

Beast Boy lay curled up on the bed he had shared with Terra only the night before, weeping quietly. "Did she ever actually love me?" he thought, unable to suppress the damning thought. 

"Why, Terra?"

* * *

"You've had doubts in the past. But all that's behind you now, isn't it?" 

There was no hesitation. "Yes."

"Will you honor me?"

"Yes."

"Will you serve only me?"

"Yes."

"Do you swear to fight by my side forever?"

"Yes."

"And will you destroy the Teen Titans?"

There was only a slight hesitation, then a cruel smile broke out on the shaman's face. "I thought you'd never ask."

* * *

End Chapter 18

* * *

A/N Well, that answers that question, doesn't it. Poor Beast Boy... I suppose I should also mention it... I don't own Ophelia, this brilliant old british guy named Bill Shakespeare or something like that does. VIVA HAMLET! 

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

Water81 is just going to LOVE this.  
Terra makes a move on the Titans  
Can the Titans defeat someone who was so close a friend?  
What effect will Terra's betrayal have on the ripening relationship between Robin and Raven?

Next Episode: Aftershock, Part 1


	20. Aftershock, Part 1

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Hey! The chapters up 5 days early! How do you like them apples? I hope to post the next chapter up by next week wednesday... but thursday or friday seems more realistic... I'm booked this weekend.

Time for the Titans to finally confront the blonde shaman they had become so attached to... This will get messy. Anyway, I really appriciate all the reviews I'm getting. Keep it up guys!

In addition to a sequel to this story, an idea for aone shot prequel has popped into my mind. What do you guys think about that?

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 19 - Aftershock, Part 1

* * *

"Hey guys! Miss me?"

Beast Boy stared on at the traitorous Titan in shock. "Terra?" What did she do to herself? Terra didn't give him very long to consider before she attacked viciously, hurling thousands of tiny rock shards at the Titans. The team took cover behind the remnants of the T car, and the rock storm thoroughly wrecked it.

His teammates rushed off to meet the traitorous shaman head on, but Beast Boy couldn't unfreeze himself from the spot. He couldn't fight her... this was _Terra_. How could he fight the woman he had fallen in love with? "Terra! Stop! We're your friends!"

Terra dodged a blast from Cyborg and ended up floating by Beast Boy. "I don't _have_ any friends, remember?" She raised her hands, and death rained down on the scattering teens below.

* * *

Robin looked around. His team was getting absolutely thrashed. Cyborg and Starfire were engaged in a shooting match with Terra, but it was too little effect. Terra was simply too powerful to fight with the half-assed effort his team was mustering against her. He threw a series of grenades at the shaman, and she intercepted them several feet away from her, protecting her from any ensuing explosions. These grenades, however, did not explode, but burst into a dense cloud of smoke. Terra started coughing, and levitated her stone platform up over the smoke. She wouldn't be able to see anything. 

"Team, fall back!" Robin yelled, regrouping with Raven in the center of the cloud. Beast Boy stood outside the cloud for a few more seconds, staring at Terra before he went to join them. "Raven, teleport us out." The empath nodded and her soul self surrounded them.

* * *

Robin punched a wall in frustration. "Why couldn't we just take her down, just like any other criminal?" 

Beast Boy ashamedly looked at the ground. "Because she's not just any other criminal. She's Terra." He paused, and Robin could see tears in his eyes. "She was a Titan. She was our...friend."

"She was _never_ our friend." Raven spat out, furious. "She was just a spy, sent to destroy us. She's _evil._"

Beast Boy rounded on her. "You don't know what you're talking about, Raven! I knew Terra better than anyone. She's confused... but she isn't evil."

Robin spoke up. "Beast Boy... she's working for _Slade."_

"When you were working for Slade, did we give up on _you?_"

For a long time, everything was silent as the two Titans stared each other down. Finally, Robin backed off. "Fine. She gets ONE last chance." Practically as soon as their standoff ended, the alarm sounded. Trouble at the prison.

* * *

"You sure these are the cells?" 

"Correct, Apprentice. Free them."

Terra groaned loudly with the strain as she brought up stone pillars from under the three main holding cells, shattering them open and freeing Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload. Terra threw a Slade communicator onto each of them.

"Good work, Apprentice," Slade's voice came over her earpiece; "Plasmus, Cinderblock, and Overload are now under my command. Now, it's time to set a trap for our friends, the Titans. I'll let you choose who we hit first."

Terra smiled. "Raven."

"Very well. Just don't forget the plan. I can assist you through our interface, but make a mistake and she will obliterate you.

* * *

"I don't know what Slade's planning, but we have three different attacks at three different locations. We need to stop them." 

"I'll take Overload. I can take him alone." Raven's calm voice spoke out.

"Me and BB will handle Plasmus."

"Fine. Starfire and I will take the leftovers. Titans, go!"

* * *

"Overload..." 

The electrical monstrosity roared and charged her. The brought a steel container from the back of the room and smacked his core with it. "Think you can handle a total blackout?" Overloaded blasted energy at her, and she moved a black disk between him and her.

* * *

Plasmus's roar spun Cyborg and BB around just in time to dodge streams of acid being spat at them. "Great. Now he spits acid." Cyborg said with a grimace. 

"Lets just get this over with..." Beast Boy said with a tight face as he turned towards the charging monster.

* * *

Robin jumped straight up as Cinderblock charged him, and Starfire flew from the blind spot behind him. She slammed into Cinderblock full tilt, and he stumbled back. Robin hit him with several bombs, and then charged to join Star in the fight.

* * *

"Now, Slade. Jam all communications."

* * *

"You are finished, Overload. Now, what was your mission. Why are you h-" 

Raven cut off with a choke as a blast of water hit her from behind, still flowing from the pipes she had broken. Sometime in the last several seconds, mud had flooded into the water, and now it sludged into an ugly brown color.

The sound of a footstep turned Raven's head, but she already knew who it was going to be. "Hellooooo," Terra's voice came condescendingly back at her, "Does the term 'decoy' mean anything to you?"

Raven rose to her feet, snarling. "Terra."

"Raven."

Raven's eyes started to glow. "Traitor."

Terra's eyes matched hers. "Witch." The two flew at each other. Terra brought a rock up at her from beneath the surface, and she threw energy downward. The rock shattered beneath her. A growl from Terra, and another stone flew straight towards Raven from the front.

'Too bold, Terra,' Raven thought. She took advantage of Terra's overconfidence, using her empathy to slice it down the middle, splitting it in two. Raven shot a blast of dark energy through the gap made between the widening rocks. The blast hit Terra dead center, and she was blown backwards under the muddy water.

The momentary pause in the action gave Raven a chance to evaluate her circumstances. They weren't good: Slade was obviously behind the planning of this. Terra had every possible advantage. Raven's communicator was out, her emotions were unstable, Terra knew everything about her powers, she was still badly injured from her fight with Slade's army,** and** she was all but **_swimming_** in Terra's element.

She was not going to win this fight.

Without warning, Terra leapt up from under the water at Raven, coated with mud, and tackling her. Terra's hands found her throat as she slipped below the surface. Raven continued her backwards momentum, rolling backward as she brought her legs up under the traitor. Raven kicked out, assisted by her empathy, and Terra went flying. Raven rose to her feet, and readied for the fight of her life.

* * *

Robin rolled right as a car went whizzing through were he had been standing. Cinderblock was making this extremely difficult. The muddy construction site wasn't making this any easier. The giant golem grabbed another steel girder, and hurled it at Robin. He shot his grappling hook upwards, and pulled himself into a high, fast loop. At the apex, he released the hold and went flying towards Cinderblock, foot first. 

As Cinderblock stumbled backwards from the blow, a series of green explosions rippled across the off balance villain, knocking him to the ground. A pile of steel collapsed down on him... but he still started to get back up.

"He is... unquestionably persistent."

Robin shook his head in frustration, looking around the desolate construction yard. "But _why?_ There's nothing here to capture! Nothing to steal!"

* * *

Raven slowly pushed herself up from the mud that coated her. Ten minutes of pitched battle later, she was getting exhausted. The advantage of Terra having so much of her element at hand was becoming very clear... the shaman wasn't even breaking a sweat. 

"Come on, Rae," Terra taunted as she cleaned the mud from her armor with her powers. "Is that the best that the last Titan can muster?"

"The last... liar." Raven didn't believe her. She would have felt Robin's death.

"Ok, you caught me. Second to last," the traitor said with a sinister smile. "I saved Robin for last, just so I can hurt him more by showing him your tattered cloak... right before I finish him."

"SHUT UP!" Raven yelled, anger getting the best of her. Her soul self projected to create a massive wave of the muddied water that rolled over Terra. The shaman moved it out of her way as it passed, emerging clean.

"Oh, I'm sorry... that's right, you can't get angry." Terra mockingly turned her back on the muddied empath. She held up her hand, and some mud gathered to form a replica of Raven. "Your emotions are dangerous."

Raven was seething with rage under the surface, at Terra's betrayal, at herself, at her father, destiny, and most specifically at Slade, but trying desperately not to show it. "Anger is pointless. I am in control."

"Anger is pointless," Terra mocked her in a high pitch voice, distorting the fake Raven face she made out of mud to make it appear to be talking. "I am in control... puh-leez, you can't even 'control' yourself into isolation. Despite everything you still reach out to Robin? He's never going to be with you... you're too dangerous. You're jus-"

Something inside Raven just snapped with Terra's words, and the last block of self control she had gave way before her anger. Raven decided that the only feeling she needed right now was tearing Terra's slim form apart, piece by piece. She cut off Terra with a roar as she rushed her. "TRAITOR!" she screamed, her voice a haunting series of echoes one after another. Her eyes split into four narrow, crimson slits. "I _TRUSTED _YOU! _THEY_ TRUSTED YOU! AND _YOU_ KILLED THEM ALL!"

Terra desperately dodged blasts of energy and flying objects as Raven attacked her without pause. Raven's powers had gotten exponentially stronger with her anger... the only thing keeping Terra alive so far was that there was no method to the mad fury of blows. They were completely random. 'Slade... anytime now...'

Terra felt energy surge through her suit as its bio-link activated, adding Slade's power to her own. She extended her powers and wrapped the earth against Raven with all her strength. The empath strained against her pull, but it was an uncoordinated effort. With Slade's strength behind her, Terra couldn't lose.

Terra stared condescendingly down at Raven as she slowly sank beneath the mud. "Who has the control now?" Terra watched as the empath gasped her last breath and her face was dragged under. The earth beneath her opened itself to Terra's will, and Raven was swallowed up.

Raven was gone. She had done it.

Terra felt a brief pulling of guilt, but they were quickly overwhelmed at the ecstasy of her accomplishment. The most powerful of the Titans, taken down by her hand. Nothing could stop her now.

Nothing.

* * *

Oxygen. It makes up roughly forty percent of the Earth's atmosphere, and it's critical to life as we know it. Once, oxygen was a poison to life... now it's most common poison was not getting any. Raven was quickly discovering this. 

She couldn't _breath!_ All around her, there was nothing but stone and pure darkness. All humans have several innate fears... one is of tight spaces, and the other was off the dark. Raven could feel the stone crushing down on her, giving her no space. 'No air...'

'Robin.' Her emotions finally started to talk. Raven suddenly pictured herself in Nevermore, looking out onto nine cloaked replicas of herself. Anger was silent, still reveling in its blood thirst. Gold, however, was willing as ever to give its opinion. 'Robin isn't dead... yet. If you die, so will he.' As Raven looked at her, she noticed for the first time that she looked even more different than her other emotions than she had thought. Originally, she believed that the emotion looked like a more innocent version of herself. The differences were more profound than that, however. Her eyes did not share Raven's lavender hue, but were instead a piercing green. Her hair was also far darker, more of a navy blue black than Raven's vivid purple locks. 'He's not dead yet...'

Robin wasn't dead yet.

Raven's eyes glowed, pulsing in the darkness. "I WILL NOT DIE LIKE THIS!" Raven wrapped her soul self around her like a cloak, and dissolved into the darkness.

* * *

"Well, he's done." Robin said, turning the felled cinderblock over with a shove from a kick, braced against the wall. "Now we can worry about Ter-" Robin suddenly got pushed out of the way. As he stumbled to the ground, something heavy 'whooshed over him. He looked up to see Terra floating off with Cinderblock, and Starfire... she was gone. "STARFIRE!" He turned. "Terra..."he growled. He ran off towards his bike.

* * *

Raven phased back into reality at the construction yard. Terra had already been here... Cinderblock was gone. With a growing sense of panic, she realized that so was Robin. Frantically, she searched around in a careful silence. Her empathy detected pain coming from over the side of the cliff, and she looked over to see Starfire floating in the water, unconscious. 

Or dead.

Raven levitated Star up the cliff and over to her. Her hands started glowing blue as touched Starfire, and she started to glow as well. "C'mon, Star... snap out of it. Wake up..."

* * *

Beast Boy was desperately holding onto the ledge for dear life as Terra slowly walked up to him. She mockingly stared down at him, a coldly sinister expression of apathy covering her face. "I hope you didn't expect a goodbye kiss." 

He looked up at her, eyes filled with sadness. "Terra... you can't..."

"Watch me." Slowly, deliberately, Terra moved her hands together and the crag slammed shut, sealing her former love to his fate. This one hurt less than Raven had. It was easy for her to convince herself that she hated him... he had abandoned her, after all.

* * *

Raven materialized from the shadows of the earth with Starfire, grabbing onto to the falling Cyborg as Star flew at the shapeshifer. "I got you, Cy."

* * *

"Good work, Terra." the sinister voice spoke into her ear. 

Terra smiled. "Thanks. It was fun."

"That was only four, however."

"I know. One more to g-"

Terra was thrown backwards as a series of detonations rippled across the ground just in front of her. Suddenly, she was hit from behind with a staff and landed hard on the earth. "Your plan ends here, Terra," a familiar voice called out.

Terra forced herself up and saw Robin looking at her, jaw tight. "What's the matter, Robin? Feeling lonely after I slaughtered your friends?" Terra pulled out a torn blue cloak and slipped it on over her cybernetic armor.

Robin couldn't believe it. 'No...' Not Raven. It couldn't be. Terra couldn't have possibly... "Murderer!" Robin charged her, dodging the rock spikes she threw. His flying tackle hit her hard, pushing her against the fence. They came up locked in melee. Terra parried and countered his unarmed strikes with surprising skill, but Robin was enraged. He made a feint to the left, and then shoulder slammed her back to the fence. Before she could act, Robin had the sharp blade of one of his birdarangs pressed against his throat.

"I promised Beast Boy I'd give you one chance. This is it." Robin pressed the blade against her sharply, drawing a narrow slit of red across her throat. "This is your last chance. Stop now, you don't have to do this!"

* * *

"I'm just never going to be good enough for you, will I!" Terra screamed as her hands glowed fiercely. The ground under Robin's feet jumped up, and he lost his balance. Terra twisted her head to the side as Robin reflexively tightened his grip for balance, and the blade glanced off her armor. A rock hit his hand, and the birdarang went flying. Robin regained his balance and pushed her back against the fence. 

Robin looked down at the pinned girl. "Terra, you don't have to do this. I was Slade's apprentice once... I got out: so can you."

"I don't want out!"

"I can save you!"

"I DON'T NEED SAVING!" Terra's eyes exploded with elemental power, shining like the sun. A hunk of rock smashed into Robin from behind, sprawling him across the dirt. Terra stalked after him, hurling stone after stone. "I _wanted_ to serve Slade! I _wanted_ to destroy your pitiful friends! I _wanted_ to crush your pathetic empath under my foot!"

By now, Robin was laying still on the floor, panting with the effort of his evasions. His uniform was ripped and torn from near misses with sharp stones, and Terra knew he was finished. She tossed the tattered blue cloak on to his face, and he pulled it to him. He might have cried, but she couldn't see. Terra lifted a huge bolder over his head. "And know, I want to never see you again."

"Welcome to your eternity with Raven." She brought the stone downwards with crushing force, burying her former leader in an avalance of crushed earth.

* * *

Raven found Robin's location just in time. Even as she threw a shield around him, the mountain of Earth crashed down. Her empathy pulled him out, and he was suddenly with the other Titans underground. To Raven's intense surprise, Robin immediate encircled her in a desperate hug, uncaring of the eyes of the other Titans on him or the potential consequences of his actions. "I though I'd lost you..." 

Despite her embarrassment and her worry about her emotions, Raven couldn't help but smile and return the hug. "Don't worry. We're all O.K."

Robin released her and stepped away, as if he had just realized what he was doing. "Now we have to stop Terra." Robin hit his fist against his palm.

"No more mercy. No more second chances." Cyborg said, voice grim.

"Terra must be stopped." Starfire agreed.

Beast Boy's eyes were the hard stone Terra so enjoyed calling upon. "She will be. She will be."

* * *

She had done it. A world without Titans... she had never truly believed it possible, but victory was hers and the Titans were no more. She had destroyed them. "Now apprentice, on to the real mission. Bludhaven is mine!" 

Terra smiled as thousands of Slade's bots formed up behind her. "So be it, master."

* * *

End Chapter 19

* * *

A/NI prayyou liked that... especially you, Water81. Hope I did it justice. Some comic fans among us might have just figured out who the gold emotion is. **IF YOU DID, PLEASE KEEP IT TO YOURSELF.**

**NEXT EPISODE NEXT WEEK WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY!**

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

Can the Titans save the city and stop Terra's rampage?  
And will the process save Terra... or destroy her.  
The conclusion of the Terra arc

Next Episode: Aftershock, Part 2


	21. Aftershock, Part 2

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N So I got it up a day late. I'm a terrible person… sue me. Titans v.s. Terra, take two. ACTION!

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 20 - Aftershock, Part 2

* * *

_I am still a Titan!_

_No we are not._

_Yes I am! I was a protector of this city!_

_Was. Now we are its conqueror._

…

_Titans are not traitors. _

_I am not a traitor!_

_They were our friends! They took us in when we had no place to go!_

_They abandoned me!_

_We made them!_

_I made them?_

_We are no longer a Titan!_

…

_The Titans are dead!_

_And yet I still live?_

_We are not a Titan!_

…

_But we want to be.

* * *

_

Inside her own mind, Terra was slowly going insane. Her head was a hotbed of conflicting emotions, thoughts, and beliefs as she rode a platform of stone through the empty city, gray with fogs, patrolled only by Slade's robotic army. She wasn't sure whom she was anymore… too much conflict to define herself. Feelings of rage and love, fear and friendship warred against one another inside her fragile frame, empowered by an almost tangible feeling weighing her down. 'Guilt,' she thought to herself in disgust as she reached a street with a view of Titan Tower, cutting through the incredibly dense fog coating the street. 'The feeling is guilt.'

That seemed outrageous on the surface, but as she looked out onto the remains of Titan Tower from Slade's army's attack on it three days ago, she could no longer deny it to be true. Why did she feel guilty? Two days ago, it had all seemed so clear, so obvious to her. The Titans were her enemies, not her friends. They needed to be destroyed for the good of her master and, more importantly, for her own revenge against her abandoners. Now, however, she felt that this was less than true.

"I guess that's it," she said to herself, staring out across the narrow gap of water. "They're really gone."

As if the thought was a queue, all hell broke loose around her.

Robots detonated by the dozens as projectiles and energy shot from the dense fog. One bot just below her detonated spectacularly, throwing Terra from her floating platform and sending her to the ground. "Terra," Slade's voice came through on her comlink, "Report! What's happening?"

Terra pushed herself slowly to her feet. "I don't know... I can't see anyth..." Terra cut of as she saw a silhouette in the fog, cloak billowing behind her. Raven. "No! You're dead!"

"Apprentice, attack!"

Terra roared in rage as her hands and eyes lit up, channeling the Earth's power around her. Before she managed to lash out at the silhouette, however, she was blasted off her feet by a vibrating blue ray. Cyborg. Terra rose up to her feet and tore a platform of earth free from the pavement below her, but it exploded beneath her feet. Robin.

Terra landed face first in a heap, lying on the pavement. When she heard a snarl, she sprang up, backing away from the green tiger that was stalking towards her. "Beast Boy, stop it. Let's talk about this."

"There's nothing left to talk about." Cyborg's voice came from behind her.

Terra saw another silhouette land behind him. "You attempted to exterminate us..." Starfire accused.

Raven's voice came from behind Beast Boy, causing her to spin around rapidly. "Did you think we wouldn't take it personally?"

"Terra, FIGHT!"

Terra roared and ripped a platform free from the ground. Before she got even a full meter from the ground a star bolt turned stone to shrapnel, and Terra was falling. Two more stone tried to catch her and lift her up, but Raven's soul self caught her in mid-flight. Terra broke free, but the constant wave of projectiles from the other Titans kept her on the defensive. Terra just couldn't get her feet above the ground... every time she tried to get airborne one of the Titans would ground her.

'I can't win.'

The thought was simple, but devastating to the blonde teen. She was going to _lose_. Terra pulled up a wall between her and the Titans and started to run away as fast as she could. "Slade, help! I can't do this alone!"

"Terra, my dear... you are never alone."

As she felt the wall crumble behind her, Slade, Plasmus, and Overload came from the shadows. As she stared on in horrified awe, the three merged. Plasmus's resilient slime covered Cinderblock's granite form, and began sparkling with electricity. As Terra again ran away, she heard Slade bots open fire behind her.

* * *

Raven turn quickly around. They were outnumbered badly, even worse than they had been at the tower. This time, however... they were ready. Robin spoke, and the empath listened with half an ear as she gathered her focus around her. "Cyborg, take BB and Star. You hold off the bots, me and Raven will handle this new monster." 

"Will do."

Robin shouted the order for them to attack, and Raven didn't hesitate. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" Two cars, parked directly along the side of the road, flew towards the hybrid's face, their gas tanks detonating on impact and blossoming into brilliant balls of fire. Unfortunately, it came from out of the acrid cloud without an injury, roaring at her and Robin.

"You know," she said as she gathered energy in her hands, "I'm really getting sick of the three of you."

* * *

Beast Boy helped pull Cyborg up from where he had fallen, by the wall. "Where's Terra?" 

Cyborg looked at him with shock. "What, an army of Robots isn't enough for you?"

"I don't _care_ about them. It's _Terra_ I want." Beast Boy morphed into a wolf and stalked away, sniffing the ground. He snarled and raninto an alley and out of sight.

* * *

Terra rushed into Slade stronghold, breathing hard with the exhaustion of her flight from the Titans. "Slade... I made it. I'm alive." As she walked towards her master, he remained facing towards the wall computer screen, his back to her. "Slade?" 

Slade spun around, slapping the blonde shaman to the ground. Terra stared up at him in shocked disbelief, and he looked down at his charge condescendingly. "That was nothing compared to what I'm going to do to you." He kicked the fallen shaman and she rolled to a stop painfully several seconds later. "I told you to fight and you ran, apprentice. This is not acceptable."

Painfully, Terra pushed herself up. "You can't... treat... me like this!"

Slade actually laughed a deep, sinister sound full of evil. He finally drifted off, and cocked his head to the side, like a hawk, in extreme amusement. "Can't I?" He chuckled briefly at his own irony. "Who else would have you? Where else would you go?"

"ANYWHERE!" Terra shouted at him. "I want _out_! I'm _sick_ of fighting, and I'm _sick_ of _You_!" Terra grabbed the collar of her cybernetic armor and pulled with all her strength, but it refused to move. 'The damn thing's stuck?' Terra continued trying to pull her armor off, growing more and more desperate with every failed attempt. Something in her started to hurt as her attempts to remove her master's armor continued, but Terra paid the discomfort to mind. Slade started laughing again, the cold sound freezing her blood.

As Slade's laughter died down again, he began walking towards the struggling teen, still down on her knees. "I'm afraid you'll find that quite impossible. The cybernetic interface will have fused with your skin by now, apprentice. It's a part of you." Slade stopped walking, standing right before his apprentice. He crouched down, putting his masked face directly before her fair-haired continence. "And so am I."

If Terra had thought Slade's laughter had chilled her blood, his words instantly froze it. She stopped struggling against her suit, trembling with hock and disgust. "No..."

"Oh yes, Terra. It's far too late to turn back now."

"But it's _not_ too late for me to go." Terra forced herself to her feet, prepared for Slade to try and knock her down again. He didn't even twitch. In a way, Slade simply staring at her with such visible amusement was more unnerving than any action he could take against her. She started walking towards the exit.

Terra suddenly dropped to the ground, writhing in the purest pain she had ever felt. Electricity arced through her lithe body in pulsing waves of agony. Over the sound of her own screams, she could just hear Slade mocking her. "Oh, I'm afraid it is." He gestured for her to come to him, and to her shock her body obeyed, getting up from the ground and walking towards him. When she reached him, the pain mercifully stopped. Slade lightly placed two fingers beneath her chin, gently forcing her to look up at him.

"You promised to fight beside me forever, Terra. And that's a promise I intend to make you keep."

'What have I done?'

* * *

A camera clicked in the darkness, but it wasn't alone. A snap, a cackle of electricity, a sizzle of overheated circuitry... and the clicking stopped. 

Beast Boy unmorphed, immediately transforming again into a bat and letting go an ultrasonic whistle. The tunnel opened up ahead, and turned into a vast cavern. He couldn't see anyone inside it, but the increasing security told him he had to be getting close. He flew onward.

Unlike what most people think, bats aren't blind: they can see just as well as humans can. When Beast Boy saw light ahead, he knew what he was flying into. When he saw a blonde girl sprawled out on the floor, he also knew exactly what he was seeing. She was crying.

Beast Boy unmorphed. "Terra?"

Terra jumped up, gazing at him with unfocused, somewhat maddened blue eyes. Beast Boy jumped backwards, but her eyes never started to glow. Instead, tears continued to drip from them. "Kill me!"

Beast Boy wasn't sure what he had expected, but that wasn't it. "_What?_"

Terra didn't back down, her eyes never blinking. "Kill me! That's what you came for, isn't it?"

"Terra... I didn-" Beast Boy had no time to react as Terra eyes suddenly lit up with an unnatural golden light, and a rock bashed into his back.

"I'm sorry about my apprentice." Slade's voice called out from the shadows. The masked villain stepped into the light. "As usual, she can't seem to control herself."

Another volley of stones went flying for Beast Boy, but this time he was ready. Flawlessly, he dodged them all. Terra's eyes "What have you done to her?"

Slade laughed, and Terra seemed to cringe at the dark sound. "Nothing she didn't want me to." Slade reached out his hand towards Beast Boy and, almost lazily, pointed. Terra's eyes lit up.

* * *

Raven smiled grimly as the Titans formed up in a tight circle in the middle of an army of bots. The odds looked impossible as the bots grimly marched forward, but Rae knew otherwise... Robin had come prepared for this. 

"Raven, NOW!" Robin shouted as his tightly wound muscles unraveled like a spring, flinging a spherical black object into the air above them. Raven surrounded them with her soul self just as it detonated. In a blinding flash, the world seemed to simply disappear for the shielded Titans. When the light faded and Rae dropped the shield, all the bots were strewn about the ground inactive. Raven smiled... Robin was a genius.

When any type of nuclear reaction takes place, multiple products are produced. One of them is called EMP, or an Electro-Magnetic Pulse. This pulse is a wave of electric energy capable of sizzling the circuitry of any electronics it touches... including the robots. Such a pulse is what that bomb had contained. They wouldn't be getting up.

Suddenly, Raven heard a roar and turned to look down the street. Plascinderload was stumbling down the street, still up but obviously injured. The EMP damage to Overload was obviously affecting it. Raven snarled. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos!"

Raven's powers tore the pavement up from under the monstrous hybrid, like pulling on a carpet. It stumbled and went down, and the Titans were all over it in seconds. Cyborg, perched on the chest of the monster, fired three blasts down into its face before it reared up and slapped him away. When it tried to hit Cyborg, Robin moved. The team leader rolled under their massive opponent and attached some kind of charge to the base of the neck. As he rolled away it detonated brightly, spewing dark smoke across the blasted streets.

It crashed back to the pavement and didn't move.

Robin looked around. "Where's Beast Boy?"

Cyborg glanced at his wrist. "Two miles west of southwest, and... 200 meters under the surface?"

"Terra," Raven growled through clenched teeth. She thought her eyes might have pulsed red for a second.

"Slade," Robin practically spat out, much the same as Raven had. He looked down at the fallen fusion. "We'll worry about this thing later. Right now, Beast Boy needs help. Raven?"

She nodded. Blackness surrounded the Titans, and when it faded they were gone.

* * *

Just inches away from Slade, Beast Boy felt the ground buck beneath his feet. He wasn't going to make it. Abandoning his Rhino form, Beast Boy took to the air just as the ground tried to swallow him up... but he was already gone. Off to the side, Terra wept, her eyes glowing. "I'm so sorry, Beast Boy..." 

Beast Boy unmorphed, safely away from flying rocks. "Then _stop letting him control you!_"

"I don't have any _choice_!"

"_Yes You Do!_" he shouted, practically shaking with frustration. "You _chose _to become Slade's apprentice, you _chose_ to betray us, you now you're _choosing _to give him control!"

"Aragggh!" Terra screamed as golden energy practically erupted from her pores, immersing Beast Boy in a deadly hail of stone.

Terra lowered her hands, and the rock dust in the air settled. Beast Boy was on the ground, bleeding, trapped halfway under a slab of stone. He groaned... still alive then. She felt her arms moving against her will again, and her own hijacked powers swirled around the slim shaman. She cried as Slade forced her to lift another rock over him...

"Strike!"

Still Terra hesitated, resisting the command with everything she had.

"STRIKE, Apprentice!" Slade commanding tone attacked her will at its foundation, demanding obedience. She could literally feel her resolve being crushed under Slade's willpower and technology.

"Terra, STOP!" Robin rushed into the room, followed by Starfire and Cyborg. They quickly surrounded her. "Don't do it!"

From directly behind her, Terra heard Raven's voice whispering into her ear. "It'll be the last thing you ever do."

Beast Boy stared up at her as she was just shuddering with the strain. She was fighting against Slade's technology with everything she had, and they seemed perfectly matched. For long seconds, nobody moved. Then, without warning, it was over.

"BASTARD!" Slade cart wheeled to the left as the stone slab she had been about to crush the fallen Titan with almost vivisected him. "You MONSTER!"

"Why you little-" Slade started, still dodging sharp shards of stone. He cut off in a rush of exhaled breath as he dodged into the path of one such stone. His armor saved him, but took the air from his lungs.

"What? _Traitor?_ Is THAT what you were going to say?" Beast Boy looked on in shock as Terra continued to pummel Slade with the earth. A particularly heavy fragment hit his mask, and he fell backwards, over the cliff edge.

* * *

Raven stared on in stunned silence as Terra walked towards the edge of the spire platform Slade had fallen off of. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Robin free Beast Boy from his prison of stone. Her attention, however, was firmly fixed on the traitor on top of the platform. 

With a suddenness that shocked even her, Slade came flying over the edge, knocking Terra sprawling with a kick to her head. The empath stared on in silence as the master villain slowly, purposefully, started to walk towards the fallen shaman. "We should help her..." Beast Boy started, but Raven cut him off with a wave.

"No," Raven said in a forceful tone that invited no argument. "This is her fight."

Slade reached Terra, and leaned down and picked the girl up by the cuff of her armor. Suddenly, Terra's eyes popped open, glowing like a pair of suns in the darkness of the cavern. Her hair started to blow wildly, as if blown in the wind, but no breeze touched the Titans. The former Titan looked right at Slade and yelled "I AM NOT YOUR DOLL!" The entire spire they stood on started to glow a molten red.

Before the captivated eyes of the Titans, the platform exploded in a brilliant display of stone shrapnel. Terra and Slade vanished from sight in the cloud of debris. When the dust finally settled, Terra was alone, floating on one of the remaining blocks of stone still hovering. She stood tall, hands and eyes still glowing as she looked down at the Titans. Slade was nowhere to be seen. With a gasp clearly audible in the silence, Terra's entire glow faded, and the exhausted shaman sank to her knees.

Then the ground began to shake.

Cyborg glanced at his wrist pad, and his human eye widened in fear. "Oh, no..." He turned to his teammates, and Beast Boy thought he looked more nervous than he'd ever seen him. "Terra's power just triggered the fault line under the city. She just turned the entire city into an active volcano... _way_ too big to stop!"

As Cyborg spoke, magma began to flow through cracks in the cavern, and flares began to shoot out of the floor. One such flare shot up right behind them, and Raven threw a shield over it, suppressing it. "We have to get out of here," the empath said, glancing back to the entrance. "Bludhaven's done for." Robin nodded, and the team started to run for the exit.

* * *

Beast Boy, however, ran towards the platform Terra was now floating on. He grabbed the woman he loved by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet. The blonde still wouldn't meet his eyes, though. Her long, blonde hair drifted over her cybernetic armor and covered her right eye completely as she stared at the ground. BB shuddered slightly... the parallel with Slade was all too visible. He shook it off... recriminations could wait. "C'mon Terra... we got to go." 

Terra's mind raced as Beast Boy pulled her up. He was trying to save her! Through the incredible pain her explosion of power had caused, she smiled. Bludhaven might be finished, obliterated by her hand, but at least she and Beast Boy would survive...

Terra froze at that thought: The sheer selfishness of it gave her pause. 'Can I really just shrug off the loss of an entire city, just because my love and I will outlive it?' The prices of her actions are even higher than ever this time.

Thought flashed through her head unbidden. Running away from her family because it was easier than admitting they were such failures. Living in the desert because it was easier than learning the control necessary to live a normal life. Making a home for herself at the Titan's Tower for the first time, giving her a place to stay. Betraying the Titans and seeking out Slade to gain the control she'd always wanted. Reaching out to and using Beast Boy to find security. Reaching out to and using Raven to finally feel she had a friend. Taking Beast Boy away from the Tower to try and avoid her betrayal, doing only what was best for her and saving the one who made her feel best. Her attacks on the Titans, wiping them out as revenge for their rejection of her... a rejection that _she_ had forced. In horror, she realized that even her final rejection of Slade as her master was the easy route, in response to his treatment of her.

She had never made an unselfish choice in her life. Was she really prepared to sacrifice an entire city for her flaws?

Terra finally looked up at Beast Boy, her blue eyes meeting his green ones. "No. I have to stay."

_"What?_ Why?"

She looked off into the distance, down at the rapidly pooling magma on the floor of the deep cavern. "I'm the only one who can stop it."

Beast Boy looked crushed by her decision. "Terra... no..." he started, tears beginning to build up. "It's too late."

Terra smiled and brushed her hair away from her eyes. Suddenly, she no longer felt like Slade's apprentice: She felt like Terra again. "Like hell it is." Terra grabbed him, pulling him tightly against her. "Listen. I've lost count of how many times I've told you I love you, but I never really knew what that meant until now. I love you, Garfield Logan. I always will love you."

"Terra... I lo..."

She pulled him tighter to her. "Tara."

"Huh?"

"Call me Tara. Tara Markov... I always wanted you to be the first person to know it." With that, Tara kissed him, and they stood there for several eternal seconds, locked in embrace while the planet's lifeblood flowed around them.

Terra released Garfield, and he stepped back. Terra tore the platform they were on in two, sending her love back to his friends standing by the entrance tunnel. "I love you... Tara." Garfield whispered as he started to drift away, and she choked back tears as she whispered back.

"I love you too... Gar..." Then he was with his friends, and running to safety.

Tara Markov was alone.

Standing on a lonely spire, surrounded my flowing magma in the trembling cavern, Tara stood her ground as her entire body began to glow with a golden light. Tara smiled. She was in her element, and no one: not Slade, not anyone; could stop her now. She could feel the tremendous power of the Earth flowing all around her as she felt her glow intensify. Magma started flowing into the cavern at an accelerating rate. The elemental power of the entire planet swirled around Tara as she basked in its glow, forming a burning column from her to the ceiling. Slowly, the shaman pushed her arms outward from her body, keeping her hands open, using her body as a focal point for the Earth's incredible might. Her long hair swirled in the whirlwind of air the column of pure golden energy was creating.

Tara opened her eyes, staring out into the beautiful desolation of the cavern by the molten stone, watching the devastatingly beautiful work of the Earth renewing itself. 'I'm sorry… but I can't let you renew yourself here.' Her eyes blazed like two burning novas in the dim light of the magma, shining out even through the golden haze of the column of light she had immersed herself in. Tara clenched her fists, and the nexus of the gathering energy shifted into them. The strain was like nothing she had ever felt before, as her body became nothing more than a conduit for the Earth's vast elemental energy. She put her hands together on top of her upper chest, desperately attempting to hold onto the gathering power.

'Slade thought he had taught me the limits of my power. He didn't have a clue,' Tara realized. During the worst of the accidental disasters her powers had caused, she hadn't channeled a tenth of this energy. The pull of it was literally beginning to rip her fragile body apart. 'Not yet…' she thought to herself as stone fell from the cave top in massive chunks, splashing into the quickly rising magma below her. The earth's trembles increased in both power and frequency, but still Terra remained still, accumulating energy. 'Not yet…'

Finally, the magma reached level mere inches from the top of her spire. 'NOW!' Tara flung her hands out to the side of her body, opening her fists and releasing all the pent up energy inside her. The shaman screamed in the purest agony she could imagine, as her body became the living circuitry for untold amounts of the planet's power, golden rays of force lancing out from her in all directions. For a brief instant, Tara could see the entire room lit up like day as she burned like a brilliant sun trapped beneath the Earth. Then everything faded to gold, and Tara Markov could see nothing at all.

* * *

Beast Boy was half running, half being dragged up the tunnel as it shook around the rapidly retreating Titans, desperate to put as much distance between them and the dangerous tectonic activity behind them as possible. Suddenly, all the Titans heard a screech to make their blood run cold – a scream of pain… no, the wail of a damned, tortured soul. The scream echoed down the narrow tunnel, losing none of its intensity as the sound passed the Titans and continued up to the surface face above. "TARA!" Beast Boy screamed, but she couldn't hear him. A golden glow became visible at the far rear of the tunnel, and before any of the Titans could react a wave of golden energy washed over them much the same way Tara's wail of agony did, blowing their capes, clothing, and hair about in a rush of wind powerful enough to knock them from their feet. Then the ground settled, and the rumbling stopped.

* * *

In the cavern where Terra had sacrificed herself for Bludhaven, only a statue of stone stood in memorial to the redemption of the former Titan. 'This figure is all that is left of her now.' Garfield thought as he knelt before it. 'Tara always did have a great sense of humor… she would appreciate the irony more than I can. The Mistress of the Earth, imprisoned forever in a cage of stone.' Slowly, he started to speak. "Tara… I know you're still in there, somewhere. I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, just know I'll never forget you." 

Garfield slowly lowered a plaque to the base of where his love stood in her petrified stance, forever staring up as though the stars she loved so much were visible through the stone. 'Who knows… to her, perhaps they are.' Setting the plaque in place, he looked up at the memorial to his fallen shaman. "You taught me so much. I'll never have a chance to fully repay you, but I can try. Your final act was to preserve this city… I'll spend forever insuring that it wasn't a wasted gesture. Bludhaven will remain." Slowly, Gar got up and turned towards the exit.

"It's time to grow up. Beast Boy died when you did, hon." Despite himself, Garfield smiled. "Changeling was born in your memory." A tear, that he'd tried so hard to repress, slipped down his face. He wiped it away gently, putting it in his mouth the taste the bitter saltiness. "I love you Tara. If you can hear me, I want you to know that."

He walked away, leaving both the plaque and his heart behind him.

Tara Markov  
1988 - 2005  
A Teen Titan

* * *

End Chapter 20

* * *

A/N End of Terra Arc. 

Definition - Tragic Hero

A hero who meets all of the following characteristics:  
1) The hero begins at a high social level or level of renown.  
2) The hero has a tragic flaw  
3) The hero falls from her position because of her tragic flaw.  
4) The hero realizes her tragic flaw.

So, Terra saves herself from Slade and sacrifices her life for redemption... but not before doing her damnedest to destroy the trust holding the team together. They need to fix this problem, and fast.

"I am not your doll" is a line spoken by a character named Rei Ayanami in the best anime ever, named Evangelion. It also gets my vote for "best line completely ruined by an American dub."

* * *

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams: 

Robin starts obsessing over Slade  
Raven has to regain the willingness to trust  
Robin needs help... can the empath he loves save him from himself? Will she finally be able to?

Next Episode: Haunted 


	22. Haunted

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Sorry about how long this chapter took. Work sucks. Anyway, I'm also not sure when the next chapter will be up either, so if you wish, post up your email address or email it to me and I'll update you as to the progress of the chapter.

A full month passes between Terra's death and this chapter, in case context doesn't make it clear. All I have to say is... enjoy. All hell breaks loose here. Yeah, there is definitely some bad language here. Stay tuned until the end for a Roster of the Titans East, b/c it will become important. The roster has changed, b/c there are some other Titans I want to bring in and I hate Mas y Menos with a passion… stupid show created characters.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 21 - Haunted

* * *

Raven looked out on the broken ruins of what used to be a city from high up on a building. She gazed up at the scorched, dark sky and down at the black, putrid water, but nowhere was there the slightest sign of life. The Mark of Scath glowed malevolently in the sky, curving in its signature blend of a '5' and an 'S.' As she watched, a voice began to speak. It began as only whispers, but with each repetition it grew louder and louder. Raven clapped her hands over her ears, but the voice's roar never lessened, increasing to a deafening crescendo as it screamed at her.

"The sky will burn…"

Raven shook her head in denial. 'No…' she thought weakly.

"Flesh will become stone…"

Raven's legs became weak and gave out on her. The empath dropped to her knees, hands still clapped over her ears. Then she began screaming, frantically, desperately, tormented, as she continued the frenzied shaking of her head.

"The sun shall set upon your world, never to rise again…"

"LEAVE ME ALONE! I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOU!"

"This is your purpose, Raven," the haunting voice continued, nonplused by Raven uncharacteristic outburst. "This is your destiny. You've always known this… you have no other choice…"

"No! No no no no no..."

Voices seem to arise from the very ground, chanting at her the prophesy she knew well. "The _Gem_ was born of Evil's fire, the _Gem_ shall be his portal. He comes to Reign. He comes to sire the _end_ of all things _mortal_."

"NO!"

"WHAT YOU HAVE CONCEALED YOU SHALL BECOME!"

Raven awoke with a start, drenched in her own sweat. The dark girl disgustedly wiped the beads of saline off the gray skin of her forehead, only to realize that even her hair was soaked. "Perfect," she spoke to herself, voice practically saturated with the purest sarcasm.

The dreams were getting worse.

Usually, they came only once or twice per month. Since Terra's betrayal, however… they were happening almost every night, and a month of this mental torture was quickly wearing down her fortitude. Raven sighed. They were only dreams… both she and the Titans as a whole had much more pressing problems to deal with.

Now that the team actually had a chance to consider it, Terra's betrayal was devastating to the Titans. The trust that kept them together as a team had been damaged, and Raven could see it in the way they acted. Cyborg argued with Robin more often, Starfire actually seemed depressed, and Robin was spending more time alone. Beast Boy's... 'excuse me, _Changeling's,_' dumb jokes had even stopped, and although she considered it an improvement, Raven knew it was a sign of something seriously wrong with him. Her empathy could pick up the pain radiating off him no matter how she tried to block it out. He had been hurt more than anyone.

Raven was also heavily affected. Raven had considered Terra her friend, and had offered her trust... and Terra had spat it back at her. She had been wrong to trust Terra. That simple realization had a profound effect on the demoness. If she hadn't been able to trust of the people she thought she could, was she mistaken to trust someone else as well? Cyborg? Star? BB?

Robin?

No... She had to be able to trust him. He would never hurt her... Never. If Raven was wrong about that, then perhaps death didn't look so bad any longer. 'No... Robin I can always believe in.'

'Then why haven't you told him?' the unwanted emotion asked. Raven was really beginning to hope it had decided to leave her alone. So much for that. 'It's been almost 2 months since you told me you weren't strong enough. Your control grows stronger everyday... but so does your father. Can't you see you need help? Can't you see you need Robin?'

'I thought I told you not to bother me anymore.'

The gold emotion snapped at Raven's unemotional display. "Damn it Raven! You are gambling with the lives of your friends! You can't distrust them anymore that you can stop your feelings for Robin... and denying either won't help one bit.'

Raven glared at the offending unknown emotion in a cold fury. 'Never speak to me again.' Raven opened her eyes, and the presence was gone.

* * *

In the darkness of the basement, a single overhead light flipped on. Robin stepped into in, carrying a single evidence box from the shelf. He set it down on the ground and opened it, coughing from the dustiness of the basement. Slade's cracked mask stared back at him.

"He's not coming back, you know."

Robin looked up from where he was kneeling over Slade's cracked mask. Cyborg was standing on the stairs down to the basement, looking at him with a measuring gaze.

"We can't be sure. He was never caught, his body never recovered." Strangely, Robin felt more like he was justifying his obsession more to himself than to his friend.

"Man, Terra killed him! Just... let him go!" Cyborg turned and walked up the stairs, and Robin stared after him. Then the alarm started blaring.

* * *

The trouble was Cinderblock, who had suddenly escaped from the new prison the police had just recently built for him... just another waste of taxpayer dollars. 'What's the point of locking these goons up if they just break out again a few days later?' Robin thought to himself while fighting, in a particularly cynical mood. He should have been less cynical and paid more attention to the fight... he might have managed to see Cinderblock's attack coming. Instead, he caught it full on and was sent soaring off into the woods.

* * *

"Robin!" Raven screamed as she watched the Titan leader get blasted off the cliff and down into the trees below. 'Nothing you can do now, Raven. Fight now, then go for him.' Raven wasn't sure which of her emotions had given the advice, but she listened.

* * *

Robin came too quickly, having no idea how long he had been out. He didn't think that it had been so very long, however... he could still hear sounds of battle from above. He shuddered involuntarily... it was absolutely pitch black beneath the tree canopy. Robin was fumbling with his grapple when lightning flashed, and the world around him was brilliantly lit for a seconds... and as the light faded, the Titan caught motion in the corner of his eye. He spun, dropping the grapple and extending his staff, and then almost dropped it as he caught view of a very familiar masked face disappear through the trees.

Slade.

Robin rushed through the darkened foliage, chasing after brief glimpses of Slade's glistening armor. When his nemesis leapt into the trees above, Robin followed. "FREEZE!" Robin hurled a birdarang at him, but just before it reached the lightning flashed and Robin squinted... and during the instant the Titan could no longer see, Slade moved. When Robin's vision refocused, the sharp projectile was buried in the trunk of the tree Slade had been standing against. Slade was nowhere to be seen.

"You've gotten sloppy while I was gone, Robin," Slade's voice snuck out from behind him like a snake, causing Robin to rapidly spin around to face the masked menace. He fell into a ready position, but Slade's attack never came. Instead, he continued to mock the vigilante. "This will be even easier than I thought."

Robin stood his ground in the darkness, surrounded by the falling rain. His body was swallowed by a light misting as water bounced off his skin and uniform and splattered. "What are you planning, Slade?" Robin snarled out from between clenched teeth.

Somehow, Robin knew he had just smiled beneath that impervious mask. "It's really quite simple, Robin. The city's fault line is still quite unstable from that blonde slut's rash release of energy. Three seismic generators at key points in the city will finish what my _former_ apprentice began."

Robin's masked eyes narrowed to slits. "Not if I take you down first!" Robin charged, but Slade easily eluded his opening fury and willingly lost his perch on the branch, landing in a back flip on the grass. Robin kicked himself towards his archenemy, extending his staff as he flew. He threw the staff towards the armored villain like a javelin. Again, Slade simple seemed to vanish.

As Robin hit the ground, he caught motion out of the corner of his eyes is the fading flash of nature's fury. He whipped his head around, spinning his staff... it was Changeling. "You know, I really hate to interrupt your little nature walk, but Cinderblock's done now. Time to go home."

Robin grimaced. "We're not done yet." His tone left no room for argument.

Changeling quirked an eyebrow and smiled. "What's up?"

Robin didn't smile. "Slade's back."

Changeling's smile faded.

* * *

Slade can't be back. It just wasn't possible. 'Terra killed him… I watched him die!' Raven thought to herself as she flew towards the part at the center of Bludhaven. 'I watched as his body sank into the magma!' But somehow, he was alive and threatening the city once again. 'Only Slade,' she thought to herself as she landed.

If Robin was right and Cyborg had calculated correctly, there should be some kind of seismic generator here. She spent a good fifteen minutes thoroughly searching the relatively small area, only to scowl in confusion.

"Where is it?"

* * *

"Do not worry Robin. We shall find Slade, and we shall stop him once again."

Robin didn't lighten up any with Starfire's kind words, but instead remained scowling as he continued his trek through the woods. "We don't have any choice." Suddenly his communicator went off. Robin brought it to his face and brought the device to life. "Titans, Report! Have you found the generators?

Cyborg's voice came back at him. "Man, I ain't found a thing. There's nothing here, the bridge is clear."

Changeling was next. "Same report from the docks. This place is as empty as a Britney Spears reality show."

Raven's report was more of the same. "Nothing to report. Everything's quite in the park."

Robin closed the communicator and dropped it in disgust. "Incompetents! I told them _exactly_ where to find them. Why must I deal with su-" Lightning flashed and Robin cut himself off suddenly. He saw a very familiar form silhouetted against the fading light. The boy wonder charged off after Slade, rapidly leaving Starfire behind.

Robin ran through the woods, brushing foliage aside as he sprinted towards the spot he had seen his nemesis… only to find him gone. Instead, he was standing in the center of a clearing in the woods… waiting for him. Toying with him. 'Ok, Slade. I accept your challenge.' Robin charged.

Slade was ready for him. He sidestepped Robin's kick, throwing himself into a spin that caused Robin's second kick to miss as well. In one smooth, practiced motion, Robin detached his drenched cape and threw it at Slade. It billowed open in the wind, blocking Slade's vision of him for a second. In that second, Robin extended his staff and stabbed through the cape… but hit nothing. He caught a whisper of motion behind him and only then realized that the visual block had worked equally well both ways. Slade had moved around behind him.

Robin tried to brace himself for the blow, but nothing could lessen the bone jarring force of the impact. It sent him soaring across the open field, towards the tree line. Catching his breath, Robin managed to force him feet back beneath him and landed in a mostly controlled tumble, ready to meet Slade. Slade, however, just stood there, looked at Robin as if greatly amused. "You'll never be free of me Robin... we are too much alike. You should know that by now. I am the shadow who haunts every dark corner of your mind." Slade charged.

"Robin?"

Robin turned towards the source of the voice, as did Slade. Starfire. Slade turned and ran. "STAR, STOP HIM! DON'T LET HIM GET AWAY!"

At the sound of Robin's voice, a glowing orb of green plasma materialized in her hands and she looked around cautiously, somehow missing Slade as he ran by her barely 5 feet away. Chasing him, Robin was only a few feet behind when Slade vanished into the underbrush. He looked around for a few seconds, but there was no sign of the master villain… he was gone.

Robin grabbed Starfire by the wrist. "WHY!" he screamed at her, "WHY DID YOU LET HIM GET AWAY!"

Starfire just looked confused. She looked down at her wrist in surprise. "You are hurting me…"

"SLADE RAN _RIGHT_ BY YOU! HOW COULD YOU LET HIM ESCAPE!"

Starfire looked forlorn in the darkness, her drenched red hair sticking to the sides of her face. "But Robin… there was no one there."

Robin was confused, but now wasn't the time to wonder about this. Slade was escaping with his finger on a trigger! "I don't have the time for this," he said, and vanished into the forest leaving the Tamaranian staring blankly after him.

* * *

"Nothing. We found absolutely nothing."

Raven was absolutely disgusted. Slade had made them all look like idiots, running all over the city and all for nothing. "That's right, Rae." Cyborg said, nodding his head grimly. Changeling only nodded his head to show his agreement.

"I think Slade sent us on a while goose chase." Changeling said just as Starfire floated down in the middle of the group, looking quite morose.

"I am not certain that it is Slade."

Raven looked at Star curiously from underneath the cowls of her cloak, still dry from the use of her soul-self. "What makes you say that?"

"When I was with Robin, he fought Slade. I tried to see him… I truly did… but I could not see anyone."

No one knew quite what to say to that. Raven spoke for everyone. "Well... That's disturbing. Where is he?"

"I'm afraid friend Robin has elected to continue the search… alone…" Starfire continued, staring at the ground. The three Titans exchanged glances and immediately came to identical conclusions. Cyborg flipped open his display.

* * *

Robin was wandering the city pretty aimlessly when he found himself in front of the ruins of the old clock tower. Robin wondered if it was truly an accident he had ended up her. He entered the condemned building.

The place was a mess... dust was everywhere and fallen cogs littered the ground and collected in unstable towers. Slade's old throne, however, seemed untouched. He swiped a finger across it: no dust.

Robin heard a sound behind him and instantly came to his combat stance. Ready. In the cracked computer screen before him, he could see the silhouette as a figure jumped between balconies behind him. It had to be Slade. Robin ran for a tower of cogs, leaping from one to another in order to quickly reach Slade's height. Unfortunately, the tower was far less stable than he had thought, and as he reached the top two cogs the pile shifted under his weight and sent him tumbling down the metal mountain alongside of two several ton cogs. Robin hit the floor hard, relying on his fine-tuned combat instinct to tell him where to dodge. He rolled hard left, just narrowly avoiding a much thinner fate beneath one of the gears. The second gear landed harmlessly to the side.

A cold, callous laugh cut the air, a malicious sound Robin had heard only once before. He shivered a little. "You're making this too easy." Robin looked up... Slade was standing on the edge of a balcony about 20 feet above him. Robin snarled.

His grappling hook hit the edge of the platform and he used it to whip his way up to the level where the masked lunatic stood waiting for him. He instantly lashed out in a quick series of blows, but Slade easily dodged them all and the offensive flurry cost the boy wonder his footing. Slade took advantage of Robin's dubious balance and struck back, blowing him backwards to the edge.

Robin fell into a crouch to regain his balance, breathing hard. "Why couldn't Starfire see you!" he demanded to know.

Slade didn't miss a beat, smoothly answering without so much as a twitched muscle. "Surely you're familiar with cloaking devices?"

"I'm familiar with all your dirty little tricks, Slade. That's how I've stopped you before, and how I'll stop you again!"

Slade's one good eye widened it mock surprise. "Why Robin," he started conversationally, "If you've 'stopped me…' then why am I still here?" His mocking words changed into a furious charge, and the bitter enemies went head to head again.

* * *

"According to my sensors, he should be close." Cyborg told Raven, walking alongside him in a hallway of the decrepit clock tower. The other Titans were following behind but even the floating Starfire was hard pressed to keep up with the brutally fast pace the empath was setting. As they continued down the hallway, a cry of pain from Robin could be heard.

"Oh yes, he's close." Raven broke into a sprint with Cyborg just behind her. The two came out of the door into the main area as one, followed very quickly by the other two Titans. Robin was impossible to miss - he went flying through the air barely ten feet in front of them as though he were thrown. Upon landing he straightened himself, and started to lash out at empty air before suddenly doubling over and then falling backwards as though his feet had been swept out from under him. He quickly rose and glanced in the direction of the recently arrived Titans.

"SLADE!"

Starfire was the first Titan to react. She thrust her fist in the air, an orb of green plasma lighting up the room like a viridian sun. The darkness vanished under the onslaught of the light... but Slade was still nowhere to be seen.

Robin ran up to them. He was in even worse condition than he had looked from a distance. His uniform and cape were tattered, one of his eyes was swollen, and practically every surface of exposed skin was covered in visible bruises and cuts. He looked like the veteran of a grand melee free for all. "What are you _doing_ here? I told you to find those generators!"

"There _are _no generators, Robin!" Cyborg yelled back, trying to convince Robin with his sheer certainty. "There _is_ no Slade!"

Robin opened his mouth in shock, speechless for a second. "No Slade? _I fought him!_ Didn't you see it?"

"Robin," Raven started softly, "All we saw was you fighting with yourself."

* * *

"My _SELF!_" Robin yelled, growing more and more agitated. He pulled on his tattered uniform, looking down at it. "You think I did this to myself? Slade's cloaking himself, just like he cloaked those generators! That's why you couldn't see him!"

"Then why could you?"

Robin looked at the empath curiously, seeming to calm himself down a little. "What are you implying?"

Cyborg spoke, and Robin turned his head and attention towards him. "Robin, Slade is dead. He isn't here..."

"I KNOW WHAT I SAW!" Robin started to shout again.

"Robin..." Starfire started from behind Cyborg before Robin cut her off.

"I don't have time for this... I need to stop Slade," he said, pulling his staff out from his belt, "and I'll take down any one of you who tries to stop me!" Robin had barely finished speaking when he felt like a train had rammed the back of his head. He feel to his knees, and collapsed down onto the cement. His head was facing to the side, so he caught a glimpse of his attackers attire... a blue robe. "Raven..." he thought, then everything faded to black.

* * *

"Have you found what is wrong with him yet?"

Starfire was pacing the stretch in front of Robin's door in the tower's medical bay rapidly, often glancing over at where Raven and Cyborg worked on the computers filled with their leader's vitals. Raven was typing furiously and didn't answer, just as she hadn't the previous four times Star had asked the question. Her attention was focused on one thing... the well-being of Robin. Nothing else could distract her from that right now.

As with the previous four iterations, Cyborg answered. "Not yet Star. We're working on it."

Barely seconds after Cyborg finished his answer did Raven's keyboard become enveloped by her soul self and thrown across the room. Everyone stared on in awe at the usually stoic girl's explosive display of emotion. "Nothing!" she yelled, practically crying with the frustration of it. "There's nothing here! Everything's just _normal._"

Starfire was the first to recover, and she also seemed to get angry. "But he is _not _normal. I can't believe you, of all people, would give up this easily Raven!"

Star's outburst shut Raven up instantly, and as she looked on at the enraged Tamaranian all her anger and frustration seemed to just drain away. Starfire was right... but how did she know? Raven looked around the room and noticed everyone else looking at her, and not in confusion. Everyone seemed to know... even Changeling. She sighed, looking down at the ground. Denial seemed really pointless in the face of everyone knowledge. "Is it really that obvious?"

Starfire had also calmed down in the silence. She walked up close to Raven and grabbed onto her hands, the Tamaranian's bright skin contrasting vividly with the pale gray of the empath's. "No. We're your friends, Raven. You should be more worried if we didn't figure it out."

* * *

Robin came to slowly... slowly for him, anyway. It was dark... the room he was in was practically pitch black. He could hear a dull, repetitive beeping from the side... it sounded like medical equipment. He tried to reach over, but he couldn't move... his arms and legs were strapped down. Robin strained against his bonds, but it was no use... there was no slack he could wiggle in, no weakness for him to exploit. He was trapped.

He could hear Raven and Starfire, muffled, yelling at each other through the door. Although he strained his ears, he couldn't hear a word they were saying... SLADE! Everything rushed back to him at once. Slade's return, the generators, the cloaking devices, his disastrous attempt to fight Slade, and finally Raven's blow from behind. He was putting the other Titans in danger here... they couldn't stop Slade because they couldn't see him. It was up to him. Robin renewed his struggles against the bonds.

"That's quite useless, you know." Slade's chilling voice froze Robin mid struggle as the masked mastermind stepped out of the room's deepest shadows. "You're mine now, Robin." Slade lifted some kind of mechanical device covered with tiny blades. Robin had no idea what it was, and didn't think he wanted to find out.

He redoubled his struggles, adrenaline coursing through his body.

* * *

Raven didn't quite know what to say to that. Fortunately, she was spared the need to make a decision by the computer calling an alert. Unfortunately, it was Robin's brain activity. "It's off the charts!" Cyborg called out.

Starfire ran over from her pacing position. "What's happening?"

"It's Robin's brain activity," Raven explained, staring at the fluctuating bars in horrified fascination, frozen. "Most humans can't survive levels of stress like that..." As if her words had been a signal, the frantically warning beeps flattened out into a dull, flat hum as the cardiac meter skipped from an elevated heart rate to none at all. That snapped the empath out of it. "ROBIN!"

Raven frantically threw open the door and ran into the dark room, the rest of the Titans following behind her. Robin's bed was empty, binding strapped ripped from tremendous strength, the sensors that had been attached to his head and his chest torn off. The air vent above the room was ajar. Behind the Titans, the door slammed shut. Changeling, the last one in, spun and tried to pull open the double door. It was sealed tight. Then metal plate came up next to walls and windows, covering the ventilation and the exits.

The computer system spoke over the PA. "Complete Invasion Lockdown Initiated."

"Sorry Robin, but if you think that's going to hold us, your sadly mistaken." Raven muttered to herself as she wrapped her soul-self about her like a dark cloak, going ethereal as she pressed against a wall. It took her several long seconds to realize nothing was happening.

"Sorry Raven, but that won't work." Cyborg explained. "After Slade's army got in last time, I prepared a few new security features when I fixed up the tower. This total lockout is one of them... it's designed to completely lockdown the tower in the event of an attack. One of the features as an EM field... that's probably going to stop you from phasing your way out of here."

Raven grimaced. "Fantastic."

"We must get out of here!" Starfire yelled, powering up a star bolt.

"No! Wait!" Cyborg warned, but too late. Star's plasma bolt struck the door and didn't even scratch it. Instead, it reflected back. Raven quickly blocked it with a shield.

Starfire punched the door twice in frustration. "We have to help Robin!" Cyborg gently pushed her aside and starting working on the door himself, with his own tools. Raven tuned them all out. She sat down the bed Robin has just vacated and put herself in a lotus position.

Changeling was the first to notice Raven's actions. "Ummm, Raven? What are you doing?"

"Helping Robin." She answered simply, closing her eyes. She stopped paying attention to everything surrounding her... Starfire's pacing, Cyborg's welding on the door, Changeling breathing nearby her, her own worry for Robin... she let everything go and focused every ounce of her concentration on her chakra, looking ever closer into herself. "Azarath Metrion Zinthos..." Then Raven let go even her sense of self, falling away from this world completely.

* * *

Raven's soul-self flew from her body, passing through the reinforced steel plating and EM shield as though it wasn't even there. The dark energy soared through the vents, tracing after Robin's essence. _'robin... where are you? let me see you...'_ There he was. Standing alone in a hallway, fleeing from something. _'robin, open yourself up to me...'_

Robin stopped, looking around in confusion. "Raven?"

_'robin, you are in danger!'_ Raven's soul-self spoke urgently, directly into his mind, _'your heart, your brain... they can't take this kind of stress. you are dying...'_

"You can't see him! You can't help!"

_'open yourself to me, robin. allow me to see him with your eyes.'_ Suddenly, Robin's very soul was an open book to the empath. She could see him as he saw himself, could see everything he'd seen as it all rushed by her at once. Raven could only pull out a few images, a few thoughts.

**_Two circus performers, followed by the spotlight, flying through the air from ring to ring. Thoughts accompanied the images... parents, love, happiness. She could feel heartfelt admiration for the couple, and she could feel sheer terror as one missed a grab. Both performers tumbled towards the ground..._**

The vision cut off and was quickly replaced by another.

**_A dark, spiraling staircase down into the darkness of a cave. In the center of the cave stood a man dressed in black, the legendary Batman of Gotham City. A single though from Robin flashed through her head - Bruce Wayne._**

As quickly as it had begun, this vision too was replaced, this time by something far more recent.

**_Raven's own gray skin mere millimeters away from Robin's own face as his lips met hers, connecting them symbolically like their essences were connected now. She never knew she felt so warm. All of Robin's focus was concentrated on a single, closely guarded thought. 'let me know... I must know...' Raven gently pushed the guardian emotions aside, feeling the sum of Robin's thousand emotions pulling him different ways. 'I love you Raven...'_**

The vision faded. _'no, wait! come back!'_ But it was too late. As quickly as the flood of thoughts and feeling had come over her, they vanished without a trace. Raven was now inside Robin's mind.

She breathed slowly, gently, in though Robin's body. After two deep breaths she open his eyes and looked around the dim hallway. They were at an intersection of 2 different hallways, with a path in every direction. Slowly, carefully, she turned about, looking for Slade. There was nothing.

_'you see, robin? nothing to be worried about.'_ Raven assured the Titan mentally, still looking around, _'there is absolutely no one h-'_

That was the last Raven got out before Slade's fist connected with Robin's face.

* * *

Raven went flying backward, losing her purchase on the small bed and tumbling to the floor with the force of Slade's blow. Her soul-self had immediately returned to her own body when she had been attacked. All eyes went to the suddenly collapsed empath as she jumped back to her feet. "SLADE!"

"You saw him?" Cyborg asked, not quite able to believe it. "He's actually real?"

Raven considered that, unsure of what to say. "I don't think so... but he's plenty real to Robin. Robin honestly believes he's fighting Slade... and Slade's winning." The empath turned to look directly at Cyborg. "We need to get out of here, _now_. I'm going to try and find Robin again." Raven sat back down on the bed and instantly was lost to her meditation again. Only one thought was left. 'Robin loves me?' Then, painfully, she tuned out even that thought and focus on finding Robin.

* * *

Robin desperately fought to keep his footing as Slade's deadly onslaught pushed him backwards down the stairs into the basement of the tower. Robin managed to block a kick that would have broken his neck, but paid the price for it: Slade's fist impacted heavily against his side, knocking Robin's blocking staff out of the way like a toothpick and sending it flying out of Robin's sight. Behind him, the dark room became dimmer - The staff must have knocked the sole light on where he had been examining Slade's mask before, causing it to flicker on and off. Robin's air left him in a rush and he slammed against the railing of the staircase and slumped to the ground. He attempted to back flip to his feet, but midway though the motion he realized he wasn't moving anymore... Slade has stepped on his cape! The Titan hit the ground harder than ever, and the back of his head impacted heavily against the grilled floor.

Robin lay there, dazed. He knew he had to get up, but he couldn't think clearly enough to know how or why. A savage impact to his side from Slade's kick brought him back to reality as it sent him falling from the staircase and onto the hard concrete floor ten feel below, back first. He heart a crack...probably a broken rib. Robin coughed onto the gray foundation, and saw his own blood. He slowly rose up on his hands and knees, painfully crawling away from the staircase.

* * *

Raven's eyes popped open and she clenched her own side. Her empathetic link with Robin was strong enough that she could feel his pain, his elevated heart rate. Changeling grabbed onto her to keep her from falling off the bed. Starfire and Cyborg were too busy working on the door to see what had happened. "What's going on Raven? What's happening to Robin?"

Raven's breathing was ragged. "He's not going to make it." She practically hissed air in through her lips. "He needs help... now!"

Cyborg looked over. "We're working as fast as we can, Raven."

Raven shook her head. "No. I'll rip this place to pieces to get out before I let him die." Raven again pressed herself against the wall, her violet eyes fading to a shining white. She focused every controlled emotion she could summon to her aid, every trick her mentor had ever taught her, and every ounce of concentration she possessed. "Azarath Metrion ZINTHOS!"

She could feel the barrier between her and the outside pushing back against her. The barrier between her and Robin. 'You are _not_ keeping me from him. Get O_ut **Of My WAY**!'_

Raven was losing.

'Now isn't this ironic?'

Raven's eyes opened. She was no longer in the medical room with Changeling, Cyborg, and Starfire. She wasn't even in Titan Tower anymore. She was in the blasted landscape of her own mind. Standing before her, to her utter lack of surprise, was her golden-cloaked alter ego. 'How sad,' the emotion spoke, voice dripping with mockery. 'All this for the man you were unwilling to help save for the last several months, including barely 6 hours ago. What could have brought such a change?'

"I _never_ was unwilling to save him!' Raven protested, frantically looking around.

'No, perhaps not directly. But your unwillingness to trust him completely has put him and the other Titans at risk... and you have been unwilling to correct this mistake.'

"I don't have a choice! By getting closer to him, I put him further at risk!" Raven frantically gestured. "I don't have time to argue this now. Robin's _dying_ while we sit here and talk!"

'You are not strong enough to reach him.'

Raven's heart sank with that simple truth. And it was a truth, she knew that very well. She was just trying to deny it, desperate to reach Robin, to do anything she could to save him. Now it seemed her efforts to protect him by refusing to get close to him had backfired horribly, just as Gold had warned her they would. Robin felt for her... she knew that now. But if he was going to die now, that was all meaningless. For the first time almost since joining the Titans, Raven started to cry.

'But together we can.'

Raven's eyes shot open and she was no longer in the wasteland of Nevermore: she was standing in the hallways outside the medical room. Her cloak slowly faded back to blue from its golden color as she oriented herself. She considered trying to open the doors for the other Titans, but decided that there wasn't enough time. 'I'm coming, Robin...'

* * *

Robin heard resounding footsteps above him as Slade's steel boots walked on the grilled staircase, navigating its switchbacks as he walked towards Robin. "You should have known better, Robin. You never could beat me."

At this point, Robin was willing to acknowledge the truth of that. He was laying on the floor, battered and broken. The fight was over, and Robin couldn't even delude himself otherwise. He leaned up against the pillar behind him and watched as Slade descended the stairs towards him slowly.

"I am your darkness nightmare, Robin. I am the Sha-"

Mid-monologue, the light Robin's staff had hit earlier flickered to life for an instant over Slade's head...and Slade vanished. Robin's eyes popped open.

The light faded out as quickly as it had arrived, and darkness rushed back in. Slade was still there, continuing his taunt as if nothing had happened. "-dow which falls on your perfect city, the monster that will herald its end."

Robin pulled himself up further, a sliver of doubt materializing in his mind. "My friend..." he groaned out, struggling against the pain in his chest whenever he breathed or spoke, "My friend tell me... that you're not real."

Slade cocked his head condescendingly. "Oh, I'm very real. Could you have gotten all those injuries from someone who wasn't real?"

Another sliver of doubt joined the first in Robin's mind. He actually looked at Slade for the first time since they had started fighting earlier today, and noticed something else. "All these injuries... but _you_ don't have a _scratch!"_

_Robin stood his ground in the darkness, surrounded by the falling rain. His body was swallowed by a light misting as water bounced off his skin and uniform and splattered. _

**_No rain bounced off of Slade._**

_Robin was fumbling with his grapple when lightning flashed, and the world around him was brilliantly lit for a seconds... and as the light faded, the Titan caught motion in the corner of his eye._

_Robin hurled a birdarang at him, but just before it reached the lightning flashed and Robin squinted... and during the instant the Titan could no longer see, Slade moved. When Robin's vision refocused, the sharp projectile was buried in the trunk of the tree Slade had been standing against. Slade was nowhere to be seen._

_He threw the staff towards the armored villain like a javelin. Again, Slade simply seemed to vanish. As Robin hit the ground, he caught motion out of the corner of his eyes is the fading flash of nature's fury._

_Lightning flashed and Robin cut himself off suddenly. He saw a very familiar form silhouetted against the fading light. The boy wonder charged off after Slade, rapidly leaving Starfire behind._

And finally, _The light Robin's staff had hit earlier flickered to life for an instant over Slade's head...and Slade vanished._

Robin's eyed widened, then narrowed.

_"I am the shadow who haunts every dark corner of your mind."_

Robin pulled himself up to his full height just as Slade reached the floor, holding the circuit breaker beside him for support. "Every dark corner..." he said, staring directly into Slade's face. He closed his eyes. "You're only in my _mind..._ and only in the dark." He opened his eyes again, staring defiantly at Slade just as the light flicked on and off again, causing Slade to vanish and reappear. "My friends are right... _you aren't real!_"

For the first time in Robin's memory, Slade seemed to completely lose him composure. He roared at Robin like a cornered animal. "**I'm real enough to finish _you_!**"

Robin reached over to the circuit breaker beside him. "Lights out, Slade." He threw the switch, and every light in the basement roared to life, bathing the dark room like the sun. Just feet from Robin, Slade vanished... and stayed gone. Robin heard a sound as the top of the stairs, and looked up to see Raven looking down at him from the top. "It's Ok now, Raven. I'm ok..." Robin's vision faded and his legs gave out, but something caught him before he hit the ground again. The last image he saw before unconsciousness claimed him again was Raven's dark, angelic face.

* * *

"Well, it looks like Slade had one last laugh."

All the Titans were back in the medical room again, but this time Robin wasn't tied down. As far was Raven was concerned, it was a vast improvement. Cyborg was typing on the computer as Robin was plugged into about 500 different sensors. "That mask downstairs contained a chemical reagent designed to mix with the blood stream and produce hallucinogens. You must have breathed it in when you opened the box earlier today."

Robin nodded, remembering the dust cloud he had coughed in earlier. "It caused me to see, hear, and feel Slade... even though he wasn't there." He looked up at Cyborg. "Am I cured?"

"The injection I gave you a minute ago should neutralize the compound in a hurry. As for your injuries... they'll take a while longer to heal. Thankfully, you didn't break anything, though you probably came close with that fall."

"So it's over?"

"Only one way to find out." Cyborg said as he flipped out the room's light. Robin waited a good while before speaking, but finally convinced himself that Slade wasn't going to appear.

"I guess... I just always worried that I was the only person still concerned about Slade."

Changeling smiled, resting a hand on the Titan leader's shoulder. "Don't worry, Robin. If Slade _ever _dares to come back here again... we'll be ready for him." For the first time all day, Robin actually smiled.

"Ok guys, lets give Robin some rest," Cyborg instructed, heading for the door. "Robin, I want you to stay in the med bay for tonight... just in case. You probably lost a bunch of bloody today along with a few wicked blows to the head, and I don't want to take any risks." Cyborg left the room and Changeling was right behind him.

All this time, Raven hadn't said a thing. She was just happy Robin was alright. As she moved to leave after Starfire, suddenly Star turned halfway through the door, blocking it. She winked at Raven, and closed the door... leaving Raven still inside.

Terrified, Raven turned around to see Robin looking at her just as nervously as she felt. Slowly, she walked up to him, trying to keep her emotions under control. She sat down on the bed beside him and clenched her hands in front of her anxiously.

For several long seconds, silence dominated the small room. Then they both started talking at once. "Robin..." "Raven..."

Robin laughed. "You first."

Raven didn't give herself a change to second-guess her decision, an opportunity to back out... she leaned forward and pressed her lips against his. Robin went stiff with shock, but slowly melted into the kiss along with her. The kiss was simple and chaste, but both felt absorbed by the warmth and simple beauty of the moment. After long seconds of the contact, Raven finally had to pull away to breath.

Robin was also breathing heavily. "Raven... I-"

Raven pressed a finger lightly against Robin's lips, still warm from their contact. "Shhhhh," she whispered lightly, smiling softly down at him. "I know." She took his hand it both of hers. "We'll talk in the morning."

Robin tightened his grip on her hand. "You promise you'll still be here?"

Raven smiled, a dazzling display of beauty that left Robin feel like he stuck a fork in an electric outlet. She tightened her hands on his and used her powers to pull a chair over to the bed, sitting down in it. "I won't move an inch. I promise."

That was enough assurance for Robin, whose stamina was so drained from the events of today. He lay down on the bed, refusing to take his hand from hers, and fell asleep almost instantly. Raven lightly laid her head down on his chest, feeling his slow heartbeat as he slept. A voice in her head spoke to her as she approached sleep as well. 'It's a difficult lesson, Raven... but an important one. United, a team can be more than the sum of its parts. Never forget that...'

* * *

End Chapter 21

* * *

A/N So, how do you like that? Next chapter is another interlude, so we take a break from plot and do some more pure character development. YAY! Anyway, as promised, the roster of the Titans East:

Donna Troy- Wondergirl – Team Leader  
Garth- Aqualad  
Roy Harper- Speedy  
Wally West- Kid Flash  
Karen Beecher-Bumblebee  
Victor Stone- Cyborg – No longer a member

Donna Troy makes 40 times the leader Bumblebee ever could, and Wally West is included because he's simply hilarious and if I'm going to need to write them I want to have a good time with it. Sue me .

**Song Warning - Next chapter will feature the song 'Iris' by the Goo Goo Dolls... I suggest you get it to enhance your reading experience.**

Next Time on Teen Titans: Fragile Dreams -

-An interlude!  
-Fluff!  
-Robin and Raven on a date!  
-And a definite ominous tone…

-Water81 explodes from the wait.

Next Episode: The Fourth Interlude: Iris


	23. Fourth Interlude: Iris

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Ya… I figured you'd all enjoy that.

Yeah… this chapter is definitely songfic-y. Eh, what you gunna do? This chapter is pretty short, but it was hard as hell to write. Besides, once you read to the end I think you'll forgive me for making it short.

**All I can say is this… READ THIS CHAPTER TO THE END. If you don't, your going to miss some important stuff. I know some people probably skip the authors note at the end… well, DON'T skip this one**.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 22 - The Fourth Interlude: Iris

* * *

June 11th, 2005 

Robin woke up early the next day, like he always did. His whole body was still sore, but that's all it was… no serious pain. Hating how sensitive his eyes were to light ater sleeping, he tried to rise up to a sitting position without opening them… and he found himself pinned to the bed by a heavy weight. Surprised, he opened his eyes and looked down, squinting from the light pouring through the windows. A mop of purple hair was resting on his chest.

It took a few moments for the drowsy Titan to connect the hair with the person it belonged to. 'Raven!' he thought, shocked. He hadn't allowed himself to consider the events of last night as anything other than a dream, as unlikely as they seemed. The empath resting her head on his chest gave a contented little sigh and shifted, turning her face towards Robin. Her eyes were still closed, sleeping, but Robin couldn't help but stare at her, mesmerized by her quiet beauty. In sleep, all her walls were down, she was unguarded, open, as if for the first time in her life she had no worries. It made her look more beautiful than ever.

Robin's eyes gazed over her soft, gray features. Mapping them; committing her beauty to memory. She was more enchanting than ever, and now she seemed to feel for him the way he had wanted her to for months now. When did she start to feel like this? What had he done to deserve a little slice of heaven for his own?

Raven started to stir. Robin smiled down at her; resting a hand lightly on the back of her neck. "Time to get up, beautiful." Raven's eyes fluttered open…

* * *

_And I'd give up forever to touch you  
__'Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
__You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
__And I don't want to go home right now_

June 18th, 2005

The last week had been the happiest in Raven's life. There had been no major revelations, no deep talks about their feelings, no inquiries into her past… the week had been consumed by carefree time spent by each other, talking about everything imaginable. Topics ranged from musical preferences to physics. Even crime in the city was quiet, as if respectful for the newfound lovers. Only minor robberies to worry about.

'What was I so afraid of?' Raven dared to wonder, in this time she had an opportunity to wonder all things. 'Together, we're completely safe. Slade is gone, crime is down, and so far my father hasn't been able to touch me here. Everything is going to be alright after all…'

"Hey, Raven?"

Raven was brought back to reality by Robin's voice. She was sitting on the couch next to him, watching some movie that she really hadn't been paying that much attention to. It had started to get dark outside while she had been lost in thought. She looked up at him and smiled. "Hm?"

Robin met her smile. "It looked like you went away there for a second."

Raven chuckled at little at his choice of words, so appropriate for her. Robin really did understand her so much better than she ever believed anyone could. "Just thinking."

" 'bout what?"

"You." She smiled at him, then leaned up giving him a light kiss. This cute side of her was another part she had never realized could be, but Robin was slowly bringing much of her humanity to the forefront that she never realized could exist.

Robin certainly appreciated this side of his love. "I wondered… you have anything planned for tomorrow?"

Raven raised an eyebrow. "No…" she said hesitatingly. "Why?"

"Because I have something I'd like to do with you. How about it?"

She smiled and turned her attention back towards the movie. "Sounds fair to me."

_And all I can taste is this moment  
__And all I can breathe is your life  
__'Cause sooner or later it's over  
__I just don't want to miss you tonight

* * *

_

June 19th, 2005

'Well, this is a disaster,' Robin thought to himself as he sat down on the street, with the movie theater behind him. 'Next time, maybe you should check and see if the theater's _open _first.'

Raven walked up behind him and rubbed his head affectionately. "Niiiiice work, Boy Blunder," she whispered in his ear, her voice light. Robin looked up at her, vaguely surprised.

'Is this Raven… teasing me?'

"Next time… I decide where we're going, alright?"

Robin smiled up at her. "Well, I guess I'm in no position to object, am I?"

"You sure aren't. As a matter of fact, I have an idea right now. You still up for something today?"

"Shoot."

* * *

Raven walked though the woods slowly, holding her new boyfriend's hand in her own. The forest just north of town was so beautiful in the summer, and the shade nicely canceled out the tremendous heat. Despite the quiet atmosphere, neither of the Titans felt as urge to remain silent… they comfortably, if softly, spoke to each other, each enjoying the time they could spend with one another. 

As they continued to walk aimlessly through for forest, Robin suddenly caught sight of something. He gestured towards it with his right hand, refusing to release hers with his right. "Hey, I have an idea. Come on!" Raven followed.

There was a little hill just to the east of where they were walking, blocking off their sight in that direction. Robin started leading Raven up that hill… it wasn't an easy climb. The prying roots of hundreds of trees had made the dirt loose, and it was starting to get dark under the canopy and hard to see your footing. Nevertheless, Raven allowed Robin to help her up, all without use of her powers. As soon as she caught sight of the other side of the ridge she let out a little gasp.

The ocean had been right over the rise, completely blocked from sight. Free from the omnipresent canopy of the forest for a few seconds, Raven could see that the sun was setting, which accounted forth both the darkening woods and the brilliant display before her. The sun was setting behind her back, but the bright colors reflected down on the shimmering water laid out before her, painting an incredible vista of light and dark across the waves.

Raven turned to Robin when he wrapped an arm around her. "Good choice." Robin leaned down, their lips meeting once again.

_And I don't want the world to see me  
__'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
__When everything's made to be broken  
__I just want you to know who I am

* * *

_

Starfire sat perfectly still on the roof of the Titans Tower, her legs wrapped in the uncomfortable lotus position as she tried to will herself to focus. Raven had taught her to meditate once, a while ago, but the eternally energetic alien didn't really have the psychology for it – she was too active by nature, and forcing herself to remain in one place for so long was subtle torture.

Despite her misgivings on meditation, Starfire had to admit that is was a good way to focus on your own thoughts, away from others… which is precisely what the Tamaranian needed right now. Friend's Raven and Robin's relationship, now that is was official, was slightly disturbing, and Starfire found it extremely worrisome she felt that way.

And Starfire knew that she shouldn't feel that way. She and Robin had tried to make something together, and while she regretted the lack of success in the attempt, she harbored no ill will towards him or her friend Raven because of it. Although she was extremely happy for her dark friend, she also envied her… that was what was so wrong.

On an instinct, Starfire opened her eyes. In the darkness of the night, she could make out a figure flying towards the Tower from the north. 'That would be Raven and Robin, back from their date.' Starfire cringed. Even the thought, inside her head, sounded bitter. She needed to sort this out.

* * *

June 22nd, 2005 

'It's been quite a while, Raven. Didn't feel the need to meditate recently?'

The sarcastic voice, Raven knew, belonged to gold. More important that its tone, however, were its words… Raven considered for the first time and realized their truth. "Actually… no, I haven't." The empath tilted her head towards the golden emotion, even as others started to gather around her. "Why is that? Or can you not tell me _that,_ either?"

Gold sadly shook her head. "I can tell you… but you won't understand. Not until you realize who I am."

Raven rolled her eyes, already tiring of this back and force verbal game. "Try me."

Gold shrugged. "While you stay with Robin, your need to meditate decreases greatly."

The Titan looked confused and startled at that announcement, and she was happy to note she wasn't the only one. The other assembled emotions, even anger, were visibly thrown off by this. Anger was the first to recover enough to query the bold declaration. "What? **Why!**"

Looking at the ground, Gold gave that same, sad shake of her head. "I warned you that you wouldn't understand."

Anger grabbed Gold by the hem of her robe and lifted Gold off the ground, her eyes blazing furiously beneath the crimson cowl of her cloak. "No more games! Tell me what you know, **NOW!**"

"Are youreally so stupid that you think it's a matter of my choice?" Gold said simply while staring down into Anger's four eyes, condescension practically dripping from her words. "The knowledge would help Raven. If I could disclose it, I would… I simply cannot."

Anger let go of the other emotion in disgust, letting her fall to the floor. "Some guardian emotion you are. You don't even _look_ like her."

Wisdom couldn't help but counter that. "Actually Anger… neither do you."

Instead of flaring her temper, the comment just made Angerlaugh. "Yes I do. My appearance matches her true insides perfectly." She shot one last glance down at the gold-cloaked figure, still rising from the ground. "Soon, it won't matter what useless advice you have to _not_ share. Raven will need only one emotion."

Raven finally decided to rejoin the discussion. "The prophecy is a myth."

"The prophecy is your destiny, fool!" Anger yelled, spinning to face the empath. "Accept it or not, nothing can change that. Not now, not ever."

_And you can't fight the tears that ain't coming  
__Or the moment of truth in the lies  
__When everything feels like the movies  
__And you bleed just to know you're alive

* * *

_

6:48 PM, June 24

"Look, I am a raging Glornag!"

Cyborg stopping typing and stared at the Tamaranian, Changeling stopped cooking and did likewise. Starfire had picked up some of the tofu bacon the shape shifter had been cooking and was holding it up to her head as horns. She had a silly expression of pure, exaggerated rage on her face. For several long, embarrassing seconds, an air of awkward silence descended on the three.

Starfire's outrageous expression shifted to confusion, and then slowly to embarrassment. "On my planet, this is hilarious," she said slowly. Changeling and Cyborg glances at one another, then burst out laughing. Still struggling to contain himself, Cyborg went back to typing.

Raven heard and saw all of this, but paid it no attention: how could she, when she was so close to Robin? With his warm, muscular body pressed up against her, how could she pay attention to _anything?_ She might not be entirely human, but she was human enough to still have teenage hormones.

Cyborg looked up from surfing the Internet to talk to his friend. "Hey guys! There's supposed to be a complete solar eclipse two days from now at 5:41 PM."

Robin looked up from his comfortable position, nestled next to his girlfriend, watching a movie with her. "Oh? That's pretty cool."

"Yeah, but we might not get the chance to enjoy it... we're probably going to need to be on full alert. This eclipse sounds like a weird one. According to this, the planets are lining up perfectly as well. The police are expecting the usual assortment of crazies and lunatics to go out there and greet the apoca..."

As Cyborg spoke, Robin could feel Raven stiffen beside him.

Raven's blood instantly froze into ice as Cyborg continued. 'It can't be...it can't... but it can't be a coincidence. How could it have snuck up on me?' She slowly got up to look back at the mechanical man, and interrupted him as casually as she could. "Hey Cy... what today's date?"

"Umm... it's Friday, right? The 24th of June. Why?"

Raven stood up, her worst fears confirmed. "I need to go meditate." She ran out, leaving her very confused boyfriend behind.

* * *

7:37 PM, June 24th 

"Well boss, it seems that Robin has fully recovered from hisrest in the Titan's blast'n medical bay... and all without us doing anything to take advantage of his injuries." Gizmo reported, kneeling in an uncharacteristically respectful pose for him. "What was the floggin' point of wasting that dust in Slade's mask if we weren't going to do anything about it?"

Jynx had been wondering the same thing, but she kinda figured she didn't want to understand the way this operation really worked. She was uncomforable enough working in Bludhaven again. Besides, she figured Dr. Light didn't really know. He was almost certainly just responding to orders from his "client: whomever that was.

"We all have our orders, Gizmo," Dr. Light said without rising from his seat, confirming Jynx's suspicions. "We do what we're told to d-" The mad scientist was cut off by the ringing of the phone he never seemed to take off his person. Waving his hand for silence, he picked up the phone and listened for several seconds. "I understand," he said, and closed the cell.

"Well, what was that about?"

Jynx frowned when she heard the new voice, lowering her face to hide the expression of disdain. Impatient and impulsive, with a bloodthirsty hopefullness in her voice just begging Dr. Light to tell her they had recieved the order to deal with the Titans... that would make it Shimmer. Sure enough, the orange haired goth walked past her into the room. Unlike Gizmo, there was nothing respectful about the way she carried herself, but Dr. Light took no offense. Rather, he smiled.

"We've recieved a date. We move against the Titans intwo days."

Mammoths's sister mimicked his insane smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

* * *

_And I don't want the world to see me  
__'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
__When everything's made to be broken  
__I just want you to know who I am_.

"This can't be happening... it _can't_!"

Raven frantically was paging through several of her books at once, using her powers to absorb the knowledge far quicker than an ordinary person could. "How could my 18th birthday have snuck up on me so completely? The prophecy _can't _be real... nothing is preordained. The prophecy couldn't be real," she mumbled to herself as she scanned.

_And I don't want the world to see me  
__'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
__When everything's made to be broken  
__I just want you to know who I am_

Driven by an urge she couldn't understand, she looked over at the digital clock. It read 11:59. As she stared, the numbers shifted and reformed.

12:00.

The 25th of June.

Raven shivered. Suddenly, the room felt freezing cold.

_I just want you to know who I am...

* * *

_

End Chapter 22

* * *

A/N - In case it wasn't clear from the context of the chapter (not to mention the specific dates), about 3 weeks pass during this episode. Don't blink, because the rest of the series takes place in about a 48 hour period. 

Lets see, credit where credit is due...

The dates, times, and especially the ending was inspired by 24.

The "Raging Glornag" joke was stolen directly from The End, Part 3... b/c it's the funniest think Starfire says all show.

And I owe major favors to Water81 for making this chapter not suck... I hope.

BUT THE CHAPTER ISN'T QUITE DONE YET...

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

-Ahhh… now wasn't that sweet?  
-Unfortunately, I cannot allow such unadulterated WAFF to continue unabated  
-You just _knew _I had to screw up everything...  
-I won't say more, but I will show you a little bit of foreshadowing... here's a preview from the next episode...

* * *

Darkness. The absence of light, pure blackness. Natural. This void was not darkness, not blackness. Not natural. This was a void, a gap in which the glory of light didn't merely not exist, but could not exist. This shadow would swallow anything it contacted... stone, air, even life... 

Light.

Bright light flared, shooting through the pure black of void, fire burning, warring against the dark. White hot fire flowed over black stone, forming spiraling outwards. The dark recoiled away from the light like a plague, but there was nowhere to go. The dark finally retreated to the circle in the center of the spiral, the only place still marked by the absence of light. Then all was white as fire flows over the dark, consuming it and adding it to itself.

The white fire faded along with the unnatural dark, leaving on a normal fire burning patterns on the stone. The fire flared, raising up to the height of a man.

Through the flickers of the fire, an armored man rose from from his kneeling posture in the center of the spiral. Long, shock white hair tumbled from his head in straight streams, contrasting sharply with the darkness as the fire made it glow. As he stood, his hair moved to reveal his eye, glinting red in the flame. The other eye, on the right side, was nothing but a gouge in his face, as though it and much of the flesh around it was forcibly torn out.

The man looked down at his hands, flexed his fists, and smiled. He brought a clenched fist up to eye level, and the flame swirled in intricate patterns around him. The man laughed cruely, the sound booming in the total silence.

"The day has arrived..."

"AND THE WORLD OF MORTALS SHALL TREMBLE!"

_I just want you to know who I am...

* * *

_

-The long awaited episode that's finally here...

Next Episode: Birthmark

Shit. Fan. You know the rest.


	24. Birthmark

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N I'm going to flatter myself by thinking that any of you still care about this story even a little bit after all this time. Well, if you do… I'm BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK! Well, first things first. I think I owe my readers about a year's worth of apologies… because I just did what I always HATED it when authors did. Between computer problems continually forcing me to wipe my computer clean and losing process on the chapter, my first year of college, and a new girlfriend, combined with sheer human laziness, this story still hasn't gotten done when I figured I'd be done with my second story by now.

Well, anyway… I wrote a prequel to Fragile Dreams, too. You might want to check that out. It happens right before this story, and shows Raven's exodus from Azarath and the fate of her teacher. It's not _quite_ cannon, but nothing about this story is quite cannon. I'm sure you'll all get over it.

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

* * *

Fragile Dreams Chapter 23 - Birthmark

* * *

...June 25th, 3:24 AM...

Raven lay shivering in the darkness, trying to concentrate. It wasn't working very well. No matter how hard she tried, she could not block out everything and meditate: she remained acutely aware of every little thing happening. The time glowing on the clock: 3:24, the unnatural coldness filling the room, Robin pacing worriedly just outside of the door. Raven could not but smile at this, despite the gut wrenching feeling of horror in her gut. How could today have snuck up on her? Resolutely, Raven shook the thought from her head.

* * *

...1:33 PM... 

Robin paced outside Raven's door, wanting very badly to knock but too polite to do so. Besides, she certainly knew he was here. If she wanted him to come in right now, she'd invite him in. Still, Robin couldn't bring himself to leave. After many more hours of pacing, he finally brought himself to get a late lunch. When he returned, the door still hadn't opened.

'What is going on in there?' Robin couldn't help but wonder. 'Why can't you just tell me what's wrong?'

* * *

...6:14 PM... 

'Meditate, meditate… another six hours and this day will be all over.' Raven thought, trying to console herself. 'It probably won't happen today anyway… according to Star, nothing is supposed to happen for another 3 years. The Eclipse was just a coincidence. Nothing to worry about…'

Raven could almost hear Anger laughing at her discomfiture.

'Nothing to worry about, nothing to worry about, nothing to wo…'

Something just ran by her door.

Instantly shifting into full combat readiness, Raven teleported from her perch on her bed to outside of her door, adrenaline pumping as she looked around for the threat. Nothing. Footsteps… she could hear footsteps at the end of the hallways. Raven walked slowly after them, gathering energy in her hands as she went. First a right turn, then a left. Slowly open the door…

"SURPRISE!" Raven's adrenaline kicked in instantly, putting a shield up around her as she sank into the floor, expanding her soulself around to take in the surroundings. The other four titans were in the room, holding… cake? Streamers? Balloons? Raven went from shock to anger in a second. She started phasing back into the room behind the group.

"I guess she doesn't like balloons…" Changeling said.

"**_How did you know it was my birthday!_**" Rae growled in the scariest voice she knew. Clearly, it was working… the little green man almost ended up on the ceiling.

"Well… you know how you kinda freaked when you found out what day it was? Well, we did some investigating." As all the other Titans, even Starfire, joined Raven in glaring at him, he quickly amended. "Ok, I did some investigating. And… it turns out that there is this super de duperly secret file in the Titans Mainframe that has your birthday on it. So… Happy Birthday!"

Raven looked around the room, examining everyone in turn. Starfire looked a bit sullen. Makes sense, considering that she knows about Trigon. Richard looked hopeful. No surprise there. Changeling and Cy looked cheerful and happy. She supposed that proved that ignorance is bliss.

"No thank you," she said, walking towards the door. She saw Richard's face fall and it almost killed her, but she kept walking.

Changeling, being Changeling, stepped into her way. "C'mon Rae… We got some tasty cake for you! Robin made it himself!"

"No thank you," Raven said, stepping around him. Didn't they realize they were trying her patience, after all this time with her?

Cyborg continued where Changeling left off. "We even have a piñata shaped like Beast Boy…"

"I said NO!" With that outburst, a fraction of all of Raven's worry, fear, anger, and frustration that had been building all day snuck up to the surface and escaped. Banners ripped, piñatas cracked, and cake went flying everywhere. Horrified, Raven quickly raced out of the room, before anything else went wrong today.

* * *

Starfire watch as Raven ran from the room. 'Poor Raven… Today is a terrible day for her.' 

She inched up behind Robin. "What are you waiting for, Friend Robin?" she whispered in his ear, "Go after her!" She gave him a little push and he started moving.

"I told you a surprise party was a bad idea…" Changeling moaned to himself.

"Save it," friend Robin said as he pushed a party back into the shape shifter's hands as he passed. He rushed out the door after Raven.

'Friend Raven needs more today, more than you can know…' Starfire thought, as she started to clean up. "I just wish I didn't need you just as much..."

* * *

'Stupid BB and his stupid party!' Robin thought to himself as he ran after his girlfriend. For a girl who always walked everywhere, she sure could move fast when she wanted to. Robin rounded a corner and almost ran into her. He would have fallen if she didn't catch him. 

Raven gave a sad little smile. "Watch yourself, Richard. I can't be here to save you all the time." The light tone in her voice took all possible sting out of her words.

"Rae… I know something's wrong. Please, let me help you. Please?"

Raven sighed; cupping his cheek with one hand as she slowly brushed it down his face. "Do you trust me?"

Robin's response was unhesitating. "Of course I do."

"Then please trust me when I say I'm not ready to talk about this yet. Just know that there is nothing about my birthday to celebrate." She turned away from him, giving him one last smile. "I need to go meditate now. I'll talk to you tomorrow… ok?"

Robin wasn't convinced, but was willing to put his trust in her. "Ok."

* * *

...6:31 PM... 

Raven closed the door to her room, leaning against it as she did, finally letting go of the smile she didn't particularly feel. She could feel Robin taking up a vigil on the outside once again. She wanted to smile, but didn't have the heart. She collapsed on the bed in a heap.

'I'm going to kill everyone. Damn you Gold, this was what I was trying to avoid."

She could practically see Gold's sneering face through her little hand mirror, resting on the shelf. She picked up a paperweight from her desk and threw it at the mirror halfheartedly. She missed, instead knocking down a large, black book.

'The book of Azar,' She thought. 'Azar…' Raven shook her head fiercely, but couldn't help steeling a glance at the silver rings on each hand.

"_What does Trigon want with me?"_

"_Here, read this. Everything you want to know is in there."_

"_The book of Azar! You never let me even touch this before, Master!"_

"_That's because it was ordered that you shouldn't know your parentage. Too dangerous for you, and much too dangerous for Azarath."_

Raven shook off the conversation as well. More pain was not what she needed right now. Still, she got up and picked up the book. Pages turned of their own accord, flipping to the day of her birth, seventeen years ago to the day.

"THE GEM WAS BORN OF EVIL'S FIRE; THE GEM SHALL BE HIS PORT…"

Raven slammed the book closed, shutting the voice out of her head. She knew what the book said.

"It will not happen. Do you hear, me, Father!"

Raven hopped back on the bed. Only five hours and thirty minutes remaining. 'If I meditate, it will all me over before I know it,' she thought, then winced at her own bad choice of words.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

* * *

...10:49 PM... 

Robin rested leaning against Rae's door, insuring that he would know when she decided to leave. It wasn't that he didn't trust her… far from it. He simply didn't want to waste any time.

"Hey, Robin!" The sudden voice was piercing in the silence. Robin started, throwing himself to his feet before he recognized the voice.

"Cyborg…" To say Robin felt ridiculous was an understatement.

"It's ok, man. We're all tense," he said, waving his hand dismissively. "I mean, if it's got Raven freaked, it's got to be bad, right? I just wanted to let you know it was your turn to take watch tonight."

Robin glanced towards the door meaningfully.

"I figured man. You want me to take it for you tonight?"

Robin let out a sigh of relief and forced a smile. He knew Cy wouldn't let him down. "Would you?"

Cy smiled, but it was just as forced as Robin's. "Whatever man, but you owe me!" He said, whistling as he walked off.

"For sure…" Robin whispered, but Cy was already gone.

* * *

...11:13 PM... 

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

'Calm.'

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

'Peace.'

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

'Tranquility.'

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos…"

'Hot…'

"Azarath Metri…"

Raven started hacking uncontrollably, unable to get enough oxygen. As her mind came back to the real world, she could feel the heat brushing every inch of her skin as she breathed in smoke. Her eyes snapped open.

The room was wreathed in flame. Her bedding, her books, even the book of Azar, all on fire. She looked around in horror. This couldn't be real. Yet it had to be. She could feel flame's signature kiss as flames licked her limbs. Yet somehow, she couldn't make herself move. Then her eyes found a pocket of flame burning out her father's symbol on the floor. She glared at it, and to her surprise it grew four burning eyes, meeting Raven's terrified gaze. "This is your destiny!" A voice boomed.

"I will not accept that!" Raven managed to choke out, huddled on the bed while she gagged on smoke.

"The portal MUST BE OPENED!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"

* * *

...11:14 PM...  
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!" The shriek came suddenly into the silence. 

Robin was about to doze off when Raven's piercing scream suddenly awakened him. Adrenaline pumping through his veins, Robin stood and smashed the keypad on the door, using a override for the lock the other Titans didn't even know he had while he drew his bo staff.

Raven was sitting upright on the bed, clutching her cloak to her body. Robin rushed her, grabbing her in a protective hug, then immediately was forced to recoil to avoid being burned. Raven was hot to the touch. Without warning, her eyes popped open, and her heat rapidly dissipated, although she didn't slow her breathing any.

"Robin!" Raven cried, practically tackling him with a hug. Was he hallucinating, or was that a tear in her eyes?

After letting her lie on top of him for a minute or so, Robin softly pushed up to a sitting position so he could look into her eyes. "Rae, are you ok?"

"Robin, you need to know something. I'm not safe to be around right now."

Robin looked at her like she'd just grown a third eye. "What are you talking about, Rae?"

"It's about my Fa…"

And all around Titan Tower, Alarms started blaring.

She looked up, and Robin could see her face go through a range of emotions faster than he could blink, and then she was back to her neutral face.

"Trouble."

* * *

...11:46 PM...  
Robin looked around is disbelief. "What are we being called in on again, Cy?"

"Robbery in Process."

"Why would someone rob here?" Robin asked, puzzled.

It was a good question. All that was in this building was the new clock tower, built after the old one got destroyed. There was nothing here to steal.

"Ok Titans, spread out and search. Do not engage anyone you find, call for backup." There were no acknowledgements, no questions. Everyone had been working as a team long enough to be as much a part of a machine as the clock gears above. Everyone soundlessly did there job.

Robin started prowling along the side of the main area in the middle, slinking up and down the pistons pumping on his right side. He couldn't shake the feeling he was being watched.

'Why did it have to be a clock tower? I hate clock towers.'

For an instant, Robin thought he saw a shadow, but then the shadow created by the moving pistol eclipsed it. When it went back up, the shadow was gone. Robin moved to investigate.

'Even this new clock tower reeks of an age long past, and of manipulation. A single cog in the right place influencing helpless others.' There always was something Robin found uncomfortable about gears and machines… and nowhere was that discomfiture stronger that with clocks.

There was definitely a shadow. A man stood on the balcony, silhouetting himself against the faint backlight. "Titans, Robin. We have one man, center stage, balcony." Robin crept closer.

And most of all, clock towers remind him of…

A tall man with silvery white hair billowing from his head stood in the beam of moonlight, announcing his presence to Robin as he looked right down at the Titan. The man only had one eye, glinting in the dim light. The second eye was nothing but a scar across the right side of his face, seemingly like a bullet wound. He had combat armor encasing his entire body from his shoulders down to his ankles. Only this face and neck were exposed.

"I don't know who you are, but you're not allowed here. Why don't you come with us peacefully? We're not looking for a fight."

"Not looking for a fight, Robin? So very unlike you." The armored old man mocked in a slow, smooth voice. "So very disappointing."

Robin froze. He would never be able to forget that voice, no matter how hard he tried. "Slade!" Robin couldn't help himself from yelling out loud, his jaw dropping in shock. "Impossible!" Robin could feel the other Titans falling in behind him.

"Terra killed you!" Changeling shouted from behind him.

Slade made a show of checking out his armored body, proving that it was all there. "She did a good job of it too, the ungrateful bitch. Pity she didn't survive, or else I'd enjoy the chance to watch her die as well."

"So it that your plan then, Slade?" Robin asked, preparing a birdarang with one hand while drawing his staff with the other. He could sense the other Titans likewise preparing themselves behind him. "Something as petty as revenge?"

Slade laughed; a deep, sinister laugh promising all the torments hell could bestow. "Oh, no, Robin. Not at all. You see, I'm just a messenger for your pretty little girlfriend." With that, Slade's body exploded in flame and a strange mark appeared on his forehead. With a roar, he sent torrents of flame blazing towards the Titans.

"Titans, GO!"

* * *

...11:51 PM...

'That mark!' Raven couldn't move, couldn't even think as Slade's fire flowed rapidly towards her. 'Why is Slade wearing my father's emblem! Only servants of Trigon wear that mark. How could he possibly be… ?' 

"RAVEN, MOVE!"

Her musings were interrupted by the sudden realization of three thousand degrees of demonic flame heading towards her face. Wrapping her soulself around her like a cloak, she forced the floor to become less that solid and fell into it like a man trying to stand on water just as the plasma streaked above her. She forced herself back to the surface in its wake, countering by hurling gears from the great clock at him.

Slade back flipped away from a string of emerald starbolts and Raven's hurled cog, perfectly aimed, was waiting for him. Without apparent effort, he swatted the two ton hunk of metal out of the way.

"Good god…" Cy whispered.

"Yeah!" Changeling echoed. "Since when could Slade to that?"

Robin snarled. "Se he got a few new powers. We still have to take him down."

'This is more than a few new powers, Richard…' Raven thought to herself. 'I would not go to my destiny, so this is my destiny coming to get me.'

* * *

...11:52 PM... 

As much as it hurt Robin to admit it, Slade always had been his martial superior. But this… this was ridiculous. Slade was as fast as ever, but had somehow gotten far stronger. Robin used the railing on the balcony to deliver a fast kick, grabbing it with both hands and using the leverage to twist himself around the pipe and extending his foot towards Slade's face.

As expected, Slade parried it, pushing the kick to the side. Robin then used the impact of his foot against the other railing to pivot, delivering a devastating roundhouse kick to the Slade's face. Or at least that was the plan. It never got past the parrying part.

Instead of pushing the kick to the side like any sane fighter would have done, Slade caught the kick straight on in the palm of his hand, his massive strength absorbing the impact entirely. Slade proceeded to using his grip to hurl Robin against one of the walls.

As Robin flew towards the wall, he flipped so he could use his feet to help absorb the impact against the wall. As he did, he saw Cyborg swing a massive pylon at Slade only to have it burned in half on impact. Robin hit the wall, bending his knees and ankles as he hit and kicking to redirect his momentum in a less damaging direction… back to another part of the balcony from which he would have a clear run at Slade.

As Robin flew back towards the fight, Starfire and Slade pitted the energy blasts against each other, and it quickly became apparent that Starfire didn't have a chance. Right before the flame overcame Star completely; Raven pushed her out of the way and extended her shield around her body. That absorbed the fire, but did nothing for the kinetic energy of the impact. Raven went flying back against the wall, and fell out cold.

"Stay down, birthday girl. I'd hate for you to get hurt before He's ready for you." Smiling, Slade unleashed another set of twin flames at Cyborg and Changeling.

"Go down, you son of a bitch!" Robin yelled, swinging his staff at Slade as he charged. Slade dodged with a flip sideways, standing on a gear as it disappeared deeper into the clock. Slade gave one mocking salute before he vanished from sight.

Robin quickly looked around. Starfire was panting on the ground, winded. Changeling and Cyborg were still picking themselves back up from Slade's last blast. Raven was out cold. It was just him who could chase Slade.

Robin jumped into the maze of gears after Slade, leaping from cog to cog without catching site of him. He quickly stripped off his own cape… getting it caught here would be a death sentence. 'Where is he? Where is… There he is.'

Slade was slowly walking towards him across a horizontal gear. As he walked, he passes a control box and casually ripped the lever out of it, hoisting it like a sword. He assumed a ready position as Robin charged.

Slade's makeshift weapon began to glow with unholy fire as he parried Robin's first swipe, leaping to another gear and backpedaling to stay in the same relative position, Robin followed, attacking downwards with an overhead smash. Slade deflected it to the side, counter attacking at Robin's head with a stab. The boy wonder easily twisted out of the way, bringing the bo down at a forty five degree angle from the right, hoping to catch Slade in a blind spot with his missing eye.

Quicker than Robin would have believed possible, Slade pulled back his unwieldy weapon and caught the swipe with a parry trapping it against his thigh. With a quick twist of his body, he brought the improvised sword down on the staff, shattering it.

Robin stared at his destroyed weapon in horror as Slade smiles at him. "Take my word for it, Robin. You're out of your league. With a kick so fast Robin never saw it coming, he found himself out of breath and flying out of the clockworks, impacting heavily against the ground. The world went dark.

* * *

...12:00 AM...

Cyborg, horrified, looked on as Robin was tossed to the ground like a rag doll. Forcing his gaze from the sight, he looked up as Slade gazed down across the carnage he had wrought. He smiled. "IT HAS BEGUN!" He yelled, firing a burst of his fire into the clockworks on each side. With the rumble, the entire building started to come down.

Cyborg made a dash for Robin, but a massive gear fell right in front of him. Cursing, he looked for a way around it, but could find none. Then he saw another massive gear falling right on top of Robin. He shouted a warning he knew would be useless.

* * *

...12:00 AM...

Raven came to with a loud rumbling filling the clock tower as Slade was bringing the structure down. She watched as Cyborg dragged Star to her feet, pushing her towards the door. She was Changeling transforming again, dodging falling machinery as he tried to fly his way out. She couldn't help but see Slade, his eyes glinting with madness through her father's dark fire as he smashed the building to pieces. But most of all, she watched, her mouth open in horror, as a gear fell straight down onto Robin.

'Robin. Robin. Robin. Robin. Robin.'

Raven's eyes widened.

She stretched out with her power, but knew it was too late.

'You will not take him away from me, Father! I will not accept this!' She smashed her eyes shut.

"STOP!"

* * *

It was a scream of pure emotion, Raven's cloak rapidly shifting through colors, becoming white for an instant before fading. Raven poured every feeling she had ever had for Robin into that one shout, every emotion that had ever touched her. Her cloak, for an instant, shined the purest white as all of her emotions and thoughts came together into a singular thought.

With all of her might speaking with a single voice for the first time in her life, She commanded the gear, Slade, her father, and the universe in general to stop.

And the universe did.

* * *

...12:00 AM...

All sound stopped immediately, and Raven slowly dared to open her eyes. The gear was still posed in mid air, just feet away from her fallen love. Everyone else had frozen in spot as well.

'Unbelievable…'

Her eyes focused on Slade, His eyes full of murderous rage as he flooded the clock tower with fire. "How did I…"

All the sudden, Slade unfroze, and those murderous eyes focused right onto her. "You may be able to stop time, Raven. But you still can't stop me." He lashed out, faster than Raven's eye could follow, and grabbed her right wrist. Raven could feel something being burned onto it. "You can't stop any of it really. Least of all your destiny."

Slade flung her backwards, and Raven caught herself, hovering a few feet over the floor right in front of a giant upright cog. "There is no destiny," Raven muttered to herself, stealing glances at the arcane rune that had been grafted onto her skin at the wrist. "Who we are is in our actions, not in our birth."

"Your delusions are irrelevant." Slade mocked, slowly separating himself from his blasts of fire towards the walls and walking towards her through the air. "I must say, Raven, I was… surprised… when I learned of your glorious secret. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it?"

Again, moving faster than she could see, Slade rushed her. She tried to put up a shield to defend herself, but he was too fast. He grabbed both her wrists, pinning her hands against the cog behind him. She winced as she felt more scalding runes attaching awakening under her skin and come to the surface. His face was right in front of hers, his eye meeting her two. "I have a message for you, Raven."

Slade laughed. "The Sky will burn. Flesh will become Stone. The sun will set on this world, never to rise again!"

"Shut UP!" Raven shouted, interrupting the prophesy of her birth.

Slade looked down at her like a teacher looks down at an impudent pupil who didn't know her place. "What you have concealed you will become, Raven. You can't do anything to stop it."

"I can try!" She shouted, her eyes shining as she manifested her soulself, turning the cog behind her less than solid and pushing against Slade with all her might. She fell free of his grasp and sank through the cog. On the other side, she used it as a block Slade's sight of her while she teleported over to Robin, grabbing him by the shoulder. Robin awoke instantly, falling out of unconsciousness and joining Raven in the frozen time.

He looked around, and Raven could just picture those beautiful, ice blue eyes moving around under the mask. "Raven, what's going on?"

She looked at him sadly, laying a hand protectively on his cheek. "I'm sorry, this is all my fault. I promise, I'll tell you everything as soon as we're far away from here."

Slade's sinister laugh interrupted the moment. "You mean you haven't told him what kind of monster you are?"

Raven looked up to find Slade hovering about 20 feet above them, his hand glowing will the ball of fire he had cupped in it. He looked right down into her eyes. "I have a message for you, Raven. And it will be delivered."

"Time to go," she whispered to Robin and wrapped her soulself around the two of them. Then they were both gone.

* * *

...12:00 AM...

Robin was dumped unceremoniously to the floor as the teleport ended, but quickly scrambled to his feet. He looked around. There were in a church, and time was still frozen. He looked back as Raven as she slowly took physical form again, and all his questions started coming out.

"Raven, what's going on? How is Slade alive? Where did he get such power? Why is he after you? What did he mean want you to tell me? How did you stop _time_?"

He stared into her beautiful face as her eyes closed thoughtfully. "Please Raven, let me help you."

* * *

...12:00 AM...

There was no easy answer to any of his questions, but he deserved to know. She struggled with an answer. Finally, she simply said, "Today's my birthday."

Robin looked at her quizzically, but she held up a hand to stop him. She wasn't finished. "When I was born, the priests of Azarath looked into the future and prophesied that something would happen. Something terrible." She stopped, looking up at Robin. "Today is the day it starts, Robin. The Prophesy is coming true."

She could see him processing that. She had so much more to say, but without warning the doors of the church blew in with a blaze of fire. It swept down the aisle, striking both of the lovers even as they turned their heads towards the sound. Robin went crashing into a wall on the other side of the church, while Raven managed to partially shield herself. With out even needing to look at Robin, she knew he was past the limit of his endurance. She was alone.

"Seeking refuge from your inner demons in a church; How symbolic."

Slade walked in down his own pathway of flame, the demonic inferno parting to make way for him. He stared right now down at Raven.

"It's just you and me now, kid." He raised one burning hand to point at her.

Raven ran.

* * *

End Chapter 23

* * *

A/N:

Ok, I have a ton of reviewers to thank, so I'm going to do it here in Alphabetical Order. There are many more than I can respond to, but I want to post up this chapter as soon as possible. Scroll to the bottom for the preview of the next episode.

A.Amishi – Do you know how much this means to me? I doubt it… You have to understand, You are the person who GOT ME WRITING FANFICTION! EVANGELION FOREVER! And now you… are here… reviewing something… that I… wrote… If your reading this, you are the perfect example of why I'm finishing this story. Thank you for your loyalty, and I'm sorry I made you wait so long.

BlissfulInsomniac – I too am an Insomniac. I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Sorry to have kept you waiting.

Deathwish911 – I will. Thank you for the support.

Dusky92 – I'm glad your enjoying it. Here is the update as promised. If your reading this, you are the perfect example of why I'm finishing this story. Thank you for your loyalty, and I'm sorry I made you wait so long.

Grand Admiral Chelli – I know they live in Jump city in the cartoon. For story reasons, primarily being that Bludhaven was where Nightwing went to grow as a character, I moved them to Bludhaven, and misspelled it early on. This error has been corrected.

I hate my new school – I'm glad you enjoyed it. Here's more!

Kikkii – I hate orthodox pairings too. Well, read on! Glad your enjoying it!

Pureangel86 – I just don't like mas y menos. They are filler characters. I can do better than filler characters. Yeah, they're cute, but that's the only purpose they fill. Anyway, About the beast within, I said early on that the chronology of this story does not match up to the episodes, and some episodes will be skipped entirely, and some will only be rearranged.

RaeRob4Ever – You've been with me since the beginning. If your reading this, you are the perfect example of why I'm finishing this story. Thank you for your loyalty, and I'm sorry I made you wait so long. I hope you enjoyed.

Ravenseductress – Yup, I'm back! Sorry to keep you waiting. If your reading this, you are a perfect example of why I must finish this story. Enjoy!

Ravenslair – You might have joined the story late, but I'm thrilled to have you along for the ride. I hope you enjoy, and I'm sorry it took so long.

Sailormoonrobinravengirl – If your reading this, you are the perfect example of why I'm finishing this story. Thank you for your loyalty, and I'm sorry I made you wait so long.

Sweetncrazysugermuffin – I'm thrilled to hear you enjoyed it so much. More is coming, so hold on!

The Object Lesson: Thank you, I'm glad you enjoy the style. It was exactly that thought of giving more perspective to what characters where thinking that initially inspired this story. I hope you continue to read. Thank you for your reviews.

Turg – Yeah, I'm sorry to say I agree with you. It angers me greatly when authors do what I just did. I'm sorry, but here comes the rest of the story now, with sane periods between the chapters. I'm glad you're enjoying.

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

- The conclusion of Raven's brush with her father

- Gold abandons Raven to her fate? Why?

Next Episode: Destiny


	25. Destiny

Teen Titans  
Fragile Dreams

A/N Don't blink, faithful reader. The series so far has unfolded slowly over the course of roughly a year and a half. The story is going to precede very rapidly from here... the rest of the series takes place in 48 hours. This chapter won't be all that long, but it would have made the last chapter too long to put it in there.

Oh, and by the way... for some reason, the lines aren't working, so I had to improvise. You'll forgive me, won't you?

Disclaimer - Think about it. If I owned Teen Titans, I wouldn't need to be rewriting the show, now would I?

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Fragile Dreams Chapter 24 - Destiny  
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12:00 AM

"You are making this much more difficult than this needs to _be_," Slade shouted in frustration as Raven dodged his fire and burst out the side door. Slade rushed after her, knocking the door off its hinges as he pushed it out of his way. Raven was running down the alley, so Slade dropped a wall of fire in her path.

Raven didn't even slow down, she just brought her soul self out to surround her like a cloak and ran through, becoming ethereal as she did. Slade sighed to himself as he watched her propel herself into the air.

"I have a message for you, Raven!" He shouted after her rapidly retreating form. "And it _will_ be delivered, whether you like it or not." He took off after her.

--------------------------------  
12:00 AM

'What does it take to stop this son of a bitch?' Raven thought to herself as he cut the fourth car in half. She threw a fifth and a sixth at him as she flew, just to slow him down. 'Nothing I do seems to be able to touch him!'

In a flash of inspiration, Raven reached out with her soulself and grabbed a bus Slade had already passed. While he was busy destroying the cars, the bus struck him from below and behind with such force that the bus actually bent a little to wrap around the villain. The aura of fire surrounding Slade set the gas tank on fire, and the entire bus exploded into a brilliant fireball, momentarily turning night to day.

Raven stopped flying, hovering in place as she watched the shrapnel begin to slow from the direction the explosion pushed it, and eventually stopping as time caught up with it. 'Did I get him?'

Slade came rushing at her rapidly from inside the fireball, his long white hair ablaze. He tackled her, both of them soaring towards the ground. Raven could feel an ache in her shoulder where Slade was touching her: the rune there was awakening as well.

Raven hit the ground and went tumbling, out of control. Her momentum kept her spinning until she impacted with the side of a building with nauseating force. Raven gasped as she felt her wind knocked out. Breathing rapidly, Raven turned her head from side to side, trying to focus her vision and find Slade.

Slade slowly walked towards her, putting out his hair with one gloved hand while he walked. His armor wasn't even scratched. "Are you ready to stop and listen now?" In response, Raven rose unsteadily to her feet, taking two awkward and painful steps towards Slade. He sighed. "I thought not."

As Raven looked on, Slade was consumed by a fire traveling rapidly up his body. She looked frantically around for him, only to feel burning agony as two hands rested lightly on her shoulders from behind, Slade's head coming forward to lean over her shoulder in a fatherly manner. "You should be careful, Raven. It would be a pity you were to hurt yourself and damage your father's precious gem."

Raven's shoulders burned as her birthmarks started pulsing with energy under Slade's gentle touch, but she spun, collecting energy into her hands as she slashed at the space behind her… but Slade was already gone.

Raven wobbled, trying to keep her balance from the missed swipe as she saw Slade reappear in front of her, leading casually against a car, looking off into the distance at nothing. "Your destiny has been sealed for a long time, Raven. There's nothing you can do." Slade turned his face so he was staring right into her purple eyes. "I've seen it, you know. It's beautiful. And today, so will you."

"No…" Raven managed to gasp out between heavy breaths, leaving hard against the streetlight in front of her.

--------------------------------  
12:00 AM

"_Yesss_," Slade hissed out, managing to make the word as sinister sounding as possible. "The sky will burn. Flesh will become stone. The sun will set on your world, never to rise again."

"_NO!_" Raven shouted, reaching out with her soul self to take hold of anything mobile in the immediate area. As she took to the sky again, she threw it all at Slade.

Slade didn't even bother to dodge; he just let it all hit him. None of it hurt. He couldn't even feel any of it… he suspected pain was not a sensation Trigon had given him back.

Slade hook his head, clearing the thoughts… they were irrelevant. "Must we do everything the hard way, Raven?" With a roar, Slade sent two torrents of flame roaring after her, resolving quickly into grasping hands.

--------------------------------  
12:00 AM

Raven dodged quickly to the right, barely avoiding one of Slade's tendrils of fire as she dipped down and banked. Her blue cloak was singed by the near miss. It was only a matter of time before they got her.

'Ok, new strategy.' When the next tendril predictably came after her, she shot straight up, as she quickly headed past all but the highest rooftops of Bludhaven. She turned as she flew and blasted one of the tendrils out of existence with dark energy. She was about to do the same to the second when it suddenly disappeared. Raven spun back around to face upwards again, and too late she saw Slade flying down towards her.

She brought up a shield just as he slammed both flaming fists down at her, protecting her from harm but doing nothing to protect her from sailing rapidly downward and smashing into the roof of a costal building. She rolled when she hit to absorb as much of the impact as possible, but almost choked from the force around her neck; Slade had grabbed her cloak. Raven craned her head back to look at him.

"What you have concealed, you will become, child!" He leered down at her, smiling infernally. "You have no other choice.

"_Never!_"

Raven moved her hand backward and at an angle, gathering her soul self in her right hand to make a talon as she slashed at her own cloak. The cloak ripped as she cut through it, freeing her from Slade's hold and exposing the extent of her runes so far. Raven could feel that she was practically glowing, but thinking about it was a distraction she couldn't afford. Spinning completely around, she lunged at Slade, taloned hand leading.

Slade ducked, parrying the arm with a sideways swipe of his forearm. Raven felt her pain flair as more runes awakened, but she didn't have time to worry about that right now. She jabbed with her other hand, going for Slade's exposed eye, but he twisted away, feeding the turn into a kick to her abdomen.

Raven lowered her right hand back into the path of the kick, letting her claw dissipate as she used her soul self to shield herself from the impact, directing its angle slightly away from her. As she let the kick deflect to the side, she grabbed the boot with her powers and pushed as hard as she could. She felt Slade's balance slip.

'NOW!' she shouted in her own head as she twisted her waist around a jumped, rapidly uncoiling herself in the air to turn into a devastating roundhouse kick that caught Slade on the side of his chin. Raven heard his neck snap with a sickening crack.

To her horror, however, that wasn't the end of the fight. As she came back down from the kick, Slade's right arm snapped up and gripped her by the throat. He squeezed just enough to get her attention through lack of air. He smiled, and then reached up with his left hand and slowly, loudly, moved his neck back into place.

"The message shall be delivered," Slade intoned over the crack of his neck realigning with the rest of his body. "Your destiny will be fulfilled." And he gently brushed her forehead with his gloved left hand.

Raven's forehead burned as the mark of Scath ripped its way to the surface of her skin, and then her entire body roared with white hot agony as the power of her birthmarks raced through her, awakening each and every rune. Slade dropped her, but it didn't matter… neither the pain of her knees impacting the roof nor the thought of escape crossed her mind through the pain. Raven vaguely registered her outfit being burned away completely by the power of the glyphs as energy poured through them for the first time since her birth.

Raven screamed, and malevolent energy shot from her eyes and mouth as the power growing within her erupted outwards. Raven's entire soul self collapsed back into her.

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12:01 AM

Robin came to with a groan, feeling the agony of his torment limbs as he pushed himself to his feet. Where was Slade! Where was _Raven_!

Robin took a look around the desolated church, and followed the burn patterns of Slade's fire blasts as they went towards the side exit. Robin rushed out, determined to follow the warpath towards the pair, when suddenly time started moving again.

'Shit, that can't be good.' Robin doubled his pace.

--------------------------------  
12:01 AM

Cyborg, Changeling, and Starfire unfroze, running out of the clock tower just as it came crashing down on behind them.

"Robin!" Starfire cried out, flying up to look around the building for wherever else he could have escaped from. "Friend Raven!"

'C'mon buddy, you can't be dead,' Cyborg thought to himself as he checked the locator built into his wrist. Surprised barely began to cover his reaction. "Woah!"

Changeling looked up hopefully. "What is it, Cy? Do you have them?"

"How the hell did they get on the other side of the city?" Cyborg said, tapping the device with his finger, expecting it to be some kind of technical error.

Starfire swooped down towards him. "Where are our friends?"

"Raven's by the ocean side, and Robin's headed in that direction. Titans, GO!"

Starfire was already flying before the order was out of his mouth.

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12:01 AM

They say that geology is the study of time and pressure. Time was extremely short right now, so pressure would have to do. Shrapnel littered the ground as the walls in her way simply exploded under the strain, and a dark figure in tattered clothing ran towards the ocean.

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12:01 AM

Raven shut her eyes tightly, hoping to deny the agony by hiding within herself. Raven could feel time passing. Bright light pulsed outside her eyelids as the sun rose and set. The pain alone was going to kill her, she was certain. It grew to the point where nothing else existed for her, and for an instant, she forgot all about Robin, Slade, everything.

Then she was inside her head, collapsing from the sky to fall hard to the rocky ground.

The first thing she could hear was anger laughing at her. Then courage and happiness rushed up to help her to her feet. She looked around, confused. "What am I doing here?"

Intelligence cleared her throat. "Well, if I had to guess, I would say that you sought refuge here to avoid succumbing to the pain." The yellow cloaked Raven looked around and shuddered. "I doubt it is a very good idea to stay here very long though.

When the ground suddenly trembled, Raven followed her gaze and saw Anger meditating on the side, laughing aloud the whole time. The earth shook all around her as stones ripped themselves from the ground to slowly form a sculpture that was already beginning to crackle with dark lightning as its energy grew.

A statue in the image of Trigon.

Raven looked around, desperate for any advice, and then finally figured something out. "Where is Gold?" When no one answered, she asked the question louder, more angrily. "Where. Is. GOLD!"

"Um…" Timid, the gray-cloaked Raven slowly raised her hand a little. "I saw her a little while ago. Just after you froze time."

"And…" Raven intoned impatiently.

"She said she had something important she needed to do, and left."

Something inside Raven just snapped. "What do you mean she _left_!" Raven roared, no longer caring effect her anger might have with the statue being pieced together right before her eyes. "Why would she leave? How _could_ she leave? And why **now!**" When Intelligence shrugged, Raven just turned around and tried to calm herself. She could already feel herself being dragged back to the real world. It was a losing battle.

----------------------------------------------------  
12:07 AM

Raven found herself naked and on her knees, staring out into a desolate city. She quickly wrapped her arms around her torso to cover herself, looking over the deserted city with horrified attention. It was Bludhaven, but every single building that wasn't toppled over was in ruins.

Most of the once-proud skyscrapers were just burned out shells of steel, and not a window in sight remained unbroken. The city's sky was scorched an angry red, with ethereal, dark crimson clouds drifting low across the blasted landscape. The ocean churned with volcanic currents as molten stone moved like the tide across the shoreline.

Raven had completed almost a half of her circular glance of the city when she caught of glimpse of a building emerging from the fiery sea. Slowly, Raven's eyes came to rest on Titan Tower. The mighty tower was destroyed, blasted into oblivion by the extreme power of this coming apocalypse. Its glass pane windows were shattered to a million pieces, and the island flooded with the lava from the sea. The tower was already leaning precariously… in another year or two it would topple over completely, and the last monument to an age with justice would be gone forever.

Raven looked up at the sound of fluttering wings overhead, and saw a flock of four eyed ravens fly overhead, circling down to the streets of the city. The empath's eyes followed them down and were horrified at the sight that awaited them. Thousands of people, their arms up in front of their faces to protect them, petrified in an instant. Their faces were internally locked in a grimace, betraying their terror. Then she saw the Titans.

Changeling was the first one she saw, in the form of an ape as he was. He was frozen into a pose smashing at some hideous, ghoul-like aberration, while several more clawed their way up his back. Cyborg shared a similar fate, his gun arm aiming down into the mass of monsters he was being pulled down into. Starfire was frozen while trying to escape the clutches of her attackers, attempting flight while blasting down at them. Her face was locked in an uncharacteristic expression of rage.

Finally, she saw Robin. His mask was off, and his staff lay broken at his feet. Piles of ghouls lay dead around him, but eventually even Robin had fallen to the dozens of monsters clutching at his body. Together, the four stood as silent reminders of the fall of Bludhaven.

Raven started hyperventilating. "No…" she muttered.

The empath stiffened as she felt Slade's arms wrap protectively around her shoulders and neck from behind, as one would comfort a lover. "Yesss…" Slade hissed from behind. He slowly guided her head up and turned it to help her complete her circle of viewing. "Look at it. Drink it in, Raven."

"Behold the world you are destined to create."

Raven looked in terror as Slade mover her head further into downtown Bludhaven, seeing that the desolation went on and on as far as the eye could see. A roar crossed the broken city, and Raven moved her head to see its source…

One figure rose, towering above the skyscrapers of the city. The four glowing eyes of her father glared back at her.

"No!" Raven screamed, breaking away from Slade. She forgot all self-consciousness as she took her pounding head between her hands, trying to shake the destiny she saw before her out of it. "I will not do it! This is not my future." She looked over at Slade, glaring. "This is just a vision. It _can_ _not_ be real!"

Slade pinned her hands back to her side as she stared back at her father as though entranced. "This _is_ the future, Raven. Your future." He turned her around, seeing the runes burning their way across her face for himself. "It began the day you were born, and _nothing_ can stop it."

Slade laughed as his one eye found her violet orbs, wide like a dear in the headlights. "This will come to pass. It is my job to make sure of it." He turned, looking over the city himself and meeting Trigon's eyes. "You are going to destroy the world, Raven."

He paused a second, looking back at the helpless mystic. "It is written all over your face."

"NOOOO!" Raven screamed, and she could feel the vision collapsing around her.

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12:12 AM

Raven collapsed into Slade's waiting arms, her legs no longer able to support her. Slade held her while her birthmarks slowly dimmed and faded, but Raven knew they were still there. She could feel them now, clearer than ever, just waiting beneath the skin.

"We will be in touch." He said as he dropped her, letting her fall from the roof down towards the pavement below. Raven barely had time to register that she should feel terrified before she felt strong hands catch her. She looked up lethargically into the masked face she knew so very well.

"Robin…" she managed to mutter.

"Shhhh," he whispered back, not taking his eyes off the pavement as he landed.

The pair looked up just in time to see Slade disappearing into a pillar of his own fire. "Oh… and happy birthday."

Robin took off his cape and offered it to Raven, who stared at it stupidly for a few moments before remembering she wasn't wearing any clothes. She had to chuckle a little despite herself. 'It's amazing what you can forget.' She managed to wrap herself in the cloak just as Starfire arrived overhead. Then she collapsed to the sidewalk and passed out, only vaguely hearing Robin and Starfire shouting at her as she fell.

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1:23 AM

The rest of the night was a blur to Robin, as he had Starfire whisk Raven away to the infirmary at Titan tower while he met up with Cy and Changeling and setting security for the tower. Currently, Cy and Starfire were on guard duty, while he and Changeling were supposed to be sleeping.

Robin, however, couldn't sleep. He couldn't do anything but look down at the beautiful empath lying beneath the thin, sterile sheets just inches from him. Where she had always seemed so strong to him, now she just seemed frail. Robin was terrified for her as she moaned and tossed in her sleep, obviously troubled. Robin didn't know what to do. He absentmindedly ran his hands through her long, lavender hair. Sometime during the night, it had grown. He didn't know how.

Robin didn't know how long he'd be sitting there when Raven's violet eyes suddenly opened. Robin looked down at her, putting all of the comfort and confidence into his tone and face as he could as he said, "its ok, Raven… it's over now…"

Raven's eyes widened, as if remembering the events of the night all at once. "No," she said, looking back at him with terror in her eyes. "This was just the beginning."

The fear in her eyes quickly became determination as she looked at him. She pushed herself out from under the sheets, completely oblivious to her state of dress. As Robin tried to stutter a warning to her, her weak legs collapsed under her and he caught her. "We need to get to my room, right now. We need to talk."

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End Chapter 24  
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A/N About the runes inscribing themselves all over Raven's body... I'm pretty sure it was network executives and not either Trigon or Magic that decided certain areas were sacred. So yeah, you get more fan service. Pity you can't see it.

**Song Warning - Next chapter will feature 'Nobody's Home' by Avril Lavigne (Don't like the artist too much, but hey, Evanescence's Ben Moody wrote the song. How bad could it be, right?)... I suggest you get it to enhance your reading experience.**

Next Time on Teen Titans - Fragile Dreams:

-What is Rae going to tell Robin?  
-Unfortunately, you don't find out next episode.  
-We take a brief break from Rae and Rob (dodges thrown objects)...  
-Because here's the thing: The Titans are going to need all the help they can get.

Next Episode: The Fifth Interlude: Requiem


End file.
